Today is World Kidney Day with the theme, “Kidney Health for All: Caring for People, Protecting the Planet.”
World Kidney Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the vital importance of kidney health, to reduce the impact of kidney disease, which affects 10 percent of the world’s population, and to remind people that kidney disease is a growing global health issue.
A Consultant Nephrologist and Senior Lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Hycinth Eze, who spoke to ABS at Immaculate Heart of Mary Specialist Hospital in Idemili North Council Area, said that on the average, managing a kidney patient for a month costs roughly six hundred thousand naira, hence the need for people to avoid acts capable of causing chronic kidney disease, advising them to maintain a healthy weight, drink more water, avoid taking painkillers and herbs indiscriminately, visit the hospital for proper evaluation when they observe symptoms such as swollen face, very foamy urine, loss of appetite, and body weakness, among others, and shun self-medication or accessing health care from uncertified outlets to avoid damaging their fragile kidneys.
The consultant nephrologist, who works part-time at Immaculate Heart of Mary Specialist Hospital, Nkpor, explained that dialysis is one of the interventions available for those who have kidney disease, saying that once a patient commences dialysis, he or she spends huge sums of money on a daily basis, and advocated for the government to incorporate the cost into insurance systems such as Anambra State Health Insurance Agency or National Health Insurance Scheme so that patients can access subsidized treatment, noting that a fifty percent subsidy would go a long way in reducing hospital bills for dialysis patients who mostly pay out of pocket, which is not sustainable.
Dr. Eze said that in his years of practice, he has observed that Anambra people do not joke with their health, noting that they invest in healthcare and also seek the best services, and told Ndi Anambra and Nigerians that the advocacy is for them to prevent kidney problems, warning that mild kidney conditions might be worsened through wrong prescriptions from unqualified persons who give concoctions of drugs that cannot be taken together based on their limited knowledge.
