RAWALPINDI: An awareness walk was held by Noon Foundation for the prevention of kidney disease, precautions and treatment at F-9 Park’s Mehran Gate on Sunday.

Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umer and renowned nephrologist Dr Zahid Nabi also held an interactive awareness talk with the participants.

The basic aim of the event was to create awareness among people about kidney disease and the importance of changing their lifestyles to save themselves from extreme kidney problems.

RMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umer said there was a dire need to adopt a healthy lifestyle to avoid kidney diseases, adding that diabetes and excessive use of painkillers were the main causes of kidney destruction. “Patients should consult a physician before taking any medicine,” he added.

Dr Zubair Hasan, head of the dialysis centre established by Noon Foundation where free-of-charge services are provided, said the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Pakistan was nearly 30pc. This means that one out of three people are diabetic, which was the highest in the world.

He said end-stage kidney disease was nearly 12.5pc, and these are the people who have to get dialysis.

“In one year or so, we have done 7,600 high-quality dialysis procedures on 130 cases. All of them were absolutely free, including the provision of procedure-related medicines and laboratory tests,” he added.

He said the dialysis centre incurred an expenditure of about Rs10 million every month, adding that there was a dire need to change lifestyle and adopt healthy habits to get rid of diabetes, which resulted in kidney failure.

Founder of the Noon Foundation Khalil Ahmed Noon said the foundation was striving to create awareness among people to enable them to take preventive measures before the disease hit them.

He said it was difficult for the common man with kidney disease to go for dialysis as it was an expensive treatment. “We started the work to provide treatment to deserving people without any cost, and we did not collect any funds from philanthropists and provided treatment from our own sources,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2024