A Senior Consultant Nephrology at the Transplant Institutes, Apollo Hospitals, India, Prof. Devendra Pumar Agarwal who was a guest lecturer at a 2-Day Continuing Medical Education, (CME) organised for Nigerian doctors in Lagos by Apollo Hospitals, stressed the need for people to focus more on prevention of kidney disease than treatment and management of the disorder.
According to him, many of the victims of the disease lose their lives due to late presentation and lack of finance to facilitate prompt medical intervention.
Agarwal, a 34 years experienced Nephrologist, said controlling dietary lifestyles would go a long way in cutting down the number of Nigerians that comes down with the disease.
Emphasising the dangers in the abuse of pain killers, he explained that pain killers should be used only when they are required.
“Pain killers should only be used when they are required. For example when there is a case of surgery, fractures where they are recommended to kill the pains. There is also the need for people to test themselves when they are diagnosed of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity and once there is protein in the urine it is an indication that must not be swept under the carpet.”
For normal pains like headache, leg pain among others, paracetamol should be enough to take care of the problems. There is no need taking stronger pain killers.
To prevent the problem, Agarwal who has been involved in 3,000 kidney transplants, recommended the need for people to change their lifestyles. “Today, all over the world, life is generally very stressful due to certain situation. Some say it is as a result of family disintegration, many families no longer live together and this has brought about stress. Smoking is directly link to lung cancer and other problems but now it is directly linked to kidney problems also. So if you are a smoker stop it, reduce stress, go for morning walks, and take less salt and fat in your diets.
“In case you are having diabetes or hypertension, then control it properly. Speaking on the CME, Country Manager, Apollo Hospitals, Nigeria, Rakesh Jalla, said the programme was organised not only for Lagos doctors but for non doctors in the state to highlight the problem as well as enlightened them on prevention strategies.
“We earlier planned for doctors but we decided to extend it to the general public by adding extra one day. We thought there is need to enlighten the public about Chronic Kidney Disease, CKD. What they should know about the disease, what food they can take or avoid. What precaution they need to take for CKD, the dos and don’ts in case of transplant, how the kidneys fail and we are also distributing booklets on Kidney diseases. diseases,” he added.
The kidneys are bean-shaped organs that serve several essential regulatory roles in vertebrates. They remove excess organic molecules from the blood, and it is by this action that their best-known function is performed: the removal of waste products of metabolism. Kidneys are essential to the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and regulation of blood pressure (via maintaining the salt and water balance). They serve the body as a natural filter of the blood, and remove water-soluble wastes which are diverted to the bladder. In producing urine, the kidneys excrete nitrogenous wastes such as urea and ammonium. They are also responsible for the reabsorption of water, glucose, and amino acids. The kidneys also produce hormones including calcitriol and erythropoietin. An important enzyme renin is also produced in the kidneys which acts in negative feedback.
Located at the rear of the abdominal cavity in the retroperitoneal space, the kidneys receive blood from the paired renal arteries, and drain into the paired renal veins. Each kidney excretes urine into a ureter which empties into the bladder.
No comments:
Post a Comment