KARACHI: While discussing critical issues concerning kidney health in developing countries, senior nephrologists at an international conference at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) shared their concern over environmental deterioration that, they said, was having an ‘alarming impact’ on kidney health.

They were speaking on the second day of the 14th Biennial Conference of Pakistan Society of Nephrology (PSN).

According to experts, while people are generally aware of the serious threat posed by diabetes to their kidney health, little awareness exists on the environmental risk factors.

Environmental pollutants, they said, were believed to have been playing a significant role in the growing prevalence of chronic kidney disease. In this respect, they referred to some recent Pakistani data showing that a significant number of patients suffered from end-stage kidney disease from “unknown causes” followed by kidney stones.

The kidney health challenges in Pakistan, they feared, might aggravate if preventive strategies were not developed to tackle the increasing numbers of diabetics as well as environmental degradation.

They emphasised the need for community-based studies, a holistic kidney registry, and randomised controlled trials to gain a deeper understanding of the disease and tailored-strategies for specific treatment.

The speakers acknowledged the limitations of current treatment options available for end-stage-kidney disease patients in Pakistan. Hemodialysis, the primary available modality, it was pointed out, posed environmental concerns due to high energy consumption and water depletion.

Furthermore, it was said, kidney transplantation programmes hadn’t expanded sufficiently to meet the demand. The lack of society’s participation in deceased organ donation programme and peritoneal dialysis adoption remained limited due to insufficient industry support and interest in government healthcare initiatives.

The experts who shared their insights included Dr Umar Farooq, Prof Kieran McCafferty, Prof Edwina Brown, Prof Stanely Lin-sun FAN, Prof M. Magdi Yqoob, Prof Fazal Akhtar, Prof Nisar Anwar, Dr Mudassar Hussain, Prof Aasim Ahmed and Prof Mirza Naqi Zafar.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024