LAHORE: Besides being ranked 8th in kidney diseases toll with 20,000 deaths every year, Pakistan has also been declared a part of “stone-belt” of the world because of high incidence of kidney stones in its population.

Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore Nephrology Department head Prof Waqar Ahmed said this in connection with the World Kidney Day being observed on Thursday (today).

He said the day was marked every year on the second Thursday of March to draw global attention to the importance of the kidney health.

First celebrated in 2006, it was a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and International Federation of kidney Foundation (IFKF) to raise awareness regarding importance of kidneys for overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease, he said.

Prof Ahmad told Dawn that chronic kidney disease was emerging as a major health problem and was rapidly growing in South Asian countries.

Worldover every 10th person was having some kind of kidney disease, he said, adding that the diabetes mellitus, hypertension and kidney stones were major causes of chronic kidney disease.

About Pakistan, he said, “It is estimated that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Pakistan will be 11-12 per cent in 2030 which is 7-8pc presently, a major contributor to chronic kidney disease.”

The estimated incidence of new cases of end stage renal disease (ESRD) is more than 100 per million population in Pakistan.

Prof Ahmad further said early detection could prevent progression of kidney disease. The diabetes mellitus could be avoided by preventing obesity through regular exercise and avoiding junk food, complex carbohydrates and excessive intake of fats, he added.

Decreased urinary output, generalised body swelling, frothy urine and hematuria (blood in urine) are some common complaints of the patients with kidney disease.

In advanced stages, patient can also be presented with shortness of breath.

“Pakistan is a developing country and thus lacks several modalities of treatment currently being practiced in rest of the world”, Prof Ahmad said.

In government hospitals patients have to wait in long queues for hemodialysis because of lack of resources.

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, which was not only an alternative to conventional hemodialysis, but was also better in many ways, could not get much popularity in the country due to lack of government support, he regretted. The nephrologists in the country were trying hard now a days to make this treatment acceptable by the patients, he added.

The cadaveric transplant was also not being done in Pakistan due to lack of governance when it was a common practice in the developed nations, he said.

Through increased awareness among the population and inhancing the literacy rate many kidney diseases could be avoided, he added.

However, he said, through proper government funding and good governance lives of people who were already labelled as end stage renal disease patients could be made much better.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2020