[ad_1]
The Ghana Kidney Association (GKA) has developed a kidney care policy to address the causes, prevention, treatment and costs of chronic kidney disease in the country.
The policy, which is yet to be presented to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), would also provide a framework for the development of services aimed at improving the suffering and death from kidney failure in Ghana.
Dr. Dwomoa Adu, a consulting nephrologist at the University of Ghana (UG), said the initiative was aimed at reducing the high number of chronic kidney cases registered each year in the country.
He spoke at a public conference organized by the GKA in collaboration with the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Cape Coast (UCCSMS) as part of the activities organized to commemorate this year's World Kidney Day in Cape Coast, Thursday.
The conference focused on the theme "Kidney Health for All Around the World".
World Kidney Day is celebrated to raise public awareness of kidney disease, encourage preventative behaviors and focus on routine screening for chronic kidney failure in all patients with diabetes and diabetes mellitus. ;hypertension.
It also involved educating health professionals about their role in detecting and reducing the risk of kidney disease and highlighting the role of local and national health authorities in the fight against kidney disease.
It also encouraged transplantation as the best outcome for kidney failure and organ donation as a life-saving initiative.
Dr. Adu said more than 7,000 Ghanaians developed end-stage kidney disease each year and 95% of them died without treatment.
According to GKA's renal registry statistics in 2017, only 23.6% of Ghanaians diagnosed with end-stage renal disease had been treated, regretting that only five regions have hemodialysis facilities. .
Dr. Adu said that six hundred and eighty six (686) people were undergoing kidney replacement treatment in December 2017, hence the need for more and more such facilities throughout the world. country.
He added that the gradual decrease in kidney function resulted in chronic kidney disease which, with the worsening of the disease, would require dialysis treatment or kidney transplantation.
"Currently, our available option is kidney transplant, which is the best treatment for end-stage renal failure, but it is not available in Ghana."
He pointed out that the cost of treating kidney disease is worrying and often forces some patients to give up fate. He urged the public, especially diabetics and hypertensives, to undergo regular medical examinations.
He said that a kidney patient needed about 1,000 GH per week for three sessions at the hospital to be dialysed and treated.
Dr. Victoria Adabayeri of Cape Coast University Hospital (CCTH) called for a legal framework to guide the transplantation of kidney, heart and other vital organs in the country.
She lamented the absence of surgeons specializing in kidney transplant in Ghana and called on the government to urgently arrange the training of at least two surgeons a year to prepare the country for the creation of 39, a foundation for the kidney.
Mr. Thomas Vincent Cann, a journalist diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, made an urgent appeal to the government to consider subsidizing the cost of kidney treatments in the country.
Source: GNA
Source link
