38m people suffering from kidney diseases

Around 38 million people across the country have been suffering from different forms of kidney diseases.

Specialist physicians made the disclosure at a roundtable organised by the Kidney Awareness Monitoring and Prevention Society (Kamps) at the National Press Club in the capital on Saturday.

The physicians also said the cautionary messages of kidney diseases do not reach the masses.

The government, however, has taken an initiative to diagnose the disease at village level.

They called for a government initiative to introduce insurance facilities for kidney patients.

Addressing the event, AK Azad Khan, national professor and president of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, underscored the need for effective campaigns to spread awareness on kidney disease prevention, diabetes, and hypertension management.

Professor ABM Abdullah, personal physician of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, laid emphasis on prevention of kidney disease, instead of cure.

He pointed out that uncontrolled blood pressure and diabetes are leading reasons for kidney complications.

Citing research data from two years ago, professor Robed Amin, line director of the government's non-communicable disease control programme, said a total of 38 million people are suffering from kidney diseases across the country, while around 40,000 to 50,000 of them are suffering from kidney failure.

A kidney patient and her son were present at the event.

Sharing her miseries, she said she was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2000. Later, she got his kidney transplanted and was in good health in the following years. However, she developed complications again a few years later.

Due to a huge treatment cost, she went bankrupt and demanded that the government introduce insurance facilities for the patients like her.