Mangaluru: Kidney Patients Association (KPA) and Dakshina Kannada district Health and Family Welfare department jointly organised a conference of the kidney patients on the occasion of World Kidney Day at the Town Hall here, on March 10.
Chief Secretary of World Kidney Day Celebration Committee (WKDCC), welcomed the gathering and said, “Kidney related illness is the world’s third highest killer.”
Deputy Commissioner AB Ibrahim inaugurated the conference by administering an oath to the audience to protect themselves and their families from kidney problems. He said, “The society and the administration is with the kidney patients. There are many hospitals and health centers in the district that treat kidney related problems and we must make good use of them. We generally focus on the aspect of curing kidney problems, but we must actually concentrate on the preventive aspect of it. The main reason seems to be our food; there is a lot of change in our eating habits and we think that tasty food is good food. But this revolution in food habits is actually a negative revolution, which is ruining our health.”
President of WKDCC, S Ganesh Rao said, “Karnataka has tough laws on kidney transplants due to a few of those who are indulged in organ trading over the black market. But it is necessary to have awareness on kidney donations. The government has realized the importance of medical procedures like dialysis and as a result, tax on dialysis is completely waived off.”
He further said that one should not worry if he had any diseases as the best cure was to believe in complete cure. “50% cure is done by the treatment and the other 50% is done by a positive mind. Our food habits have also changed and the youngsters have turned to junk food. The situation is such that, if you don’t have junk food then you are considered to be a lame person, but it is not so. Your health is of paramount importance and to maintain that good food habits, exercise and plenty of water intake is a must,” he said.
President of KPA, S Prasad said, “According to statistics, 63,893 people die everyday in India and if only a 100 out of these donate their kidneys then, India will be a dialysis free nation within 5 years. Donation of organs is a must as dialysis is not a solution.”
Vice President of WKDCC, Sudesh Kumar delivered the vote of thanks. The ‘Kidney Expo 2016’ was inaugurated by Dr G G Laxman Prabhu.
There was a talk by Nephrologist, Dr Vivek Pathak, who holds the record of 97% success rate in kidney transplants. He is also the only doctor in India who has performed a steroidless kidney transplant. He said, “Kidney and heart diseases have increased tremendously in a few decades and it is mostly attributed to the change in lifestyle. It may be due to the high intake of carbohydrates in our diet. We should instead have a protein rich diet like the Americans. Even the religious scriptures ask us to eat less and exercise more. This doesn’t mean that we should starve ourselves, but there is a need to limit our food intake and be strong at the same time.”
He further said that the other reason for our obesity would be the high levels of toxins in our drinking water and food. “Kidney diseases are also spread genetically and this can be reduced by avoiding marriage among close family members. When a child gets fever without cold and cough, then run urine and blood tests. Pinpoint the exact cause of the fever instead of giving antibiotics without knowing the exact reason being the high temperature. These tests can reveal any damage to the kidneys,” he added.
The high increase in the kidney diseases seen now in India is due to the changed lifestyle of eating junk food and lack of exercise. It seems like the dialysis machine production in the world must be like the automobile production due to the number of sick people. My relative who is 70 now surviving due to the dialysis machine in Cochin said that he was surprised by the young people of 22 years and older suffering from kidney problems. In the U.S., the black people have a far higher percentage of kidney diseases, their diet in high level of… Read more »