RIYADH: The Health Ministry has urged people who are prone to renal diseases to go for regular medical checkups to avoid late detection.
“People most susceptible to kidney ailments include those suffering from diabetes, hypertension, urinary problems and obesity,” Dr. Faisal Shaheen, chairman of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT), said on the occasion of the World Kidney Day yesterday.
He added that the Kingdom has chalked out a nationwide awareness campaign to advise people to take preventive measures against the illness, which affects 10 percent of the global population.
The Kingdom will join 60 countries across the world in observing World Kidney Day today.
Shaheen said around 500 million people (10 percent of the world population) suffer from kidney problems and 90 percent of them have permanent kidney-related illnesses. “This also includes 1.5 million patients who are undergoing medical treatment following kidney transplants,” he said, adding that the number will increase by 100 percent over the next 10 years. Patients who reach the end-stage of renal disease are advised to undergo kidney transplant by nephrologists.
Shaheen said a comprehensive nationwide awareness program has yielded good results. “There is a remarkable increase in the number of patients coming for kidney tests and there is also an encouraging number of kidney donors in the Kingdom,” he said, adding that the center harvested organs from 118 dead donors, up 38 percent over the previous year.
Shaheen also pointed out that the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh has made remarkable advances in the field of organ transplantation. “It has improved its performance by 40 percent in kidney transplants, 60 percent in liver transplants and 100 percent in heart transplants,” he said.
A recent study of data from the US National Kidney Foundation says that chronic kidney disease can strike young and middle-aged adults as well as the elderly, doubling their risk of premature heart attacks, strokes and death.
The study also confirmed that simple urine and blood tests can detect signs of early CKD and emphasized the need for thorough testing for those at risk. The hope is that early detection will motivate people to make lifestyle changes that can help slow the progress of CKD.
