RISING CASES OF RENAL FAILURE
Health authorities could do more to address this health emergency
The rising incidence of renal failure in the country is becoming rather alarming. Available statistics indicate that more than 20 million Nigerians are suffering from various stages of kidney-related diseases. This affliction plagues all age grades with as high as nine per cent of children on admission reported to be victims of renal failure. Against the background that a patient needs about N15 million for kidney transplant in Nigeria while end-stage kidney disease patient requires three sessions of dialysis weekly at the cost of about N110,000 and N20,000 for medications, health authorities in the country should be concerned.
Kidney, the organ that helps to filter waste products from the blood and regulates electrolyte balance and red blood cell production, is vital for human survival. Yet it is an organ most Nigerians know little or nothing about. This is because renal failure does not attract the kind of attention focused on medical issues like malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis despite the fact that a chunk of the population is afflicted by it.
Until now, renal failure was viewed as an elitist ailment because it was largely associated with the rich and a certain lifestyle characterised by unchecked appetite for processed foods and consumption of alcohol. But since post-mortem examinations are hardly performed on the causes of the death for poor people, such presumption hides the actual reality. Today, this silent epidemic now cut across all social strata due to a number of factors some of which include the scourge of fake drugs, unregulated or long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics, inadequate enlightenment on the causes of kidney-related diseases, and lack of periodic medical check-ups.
We call on government and other stakeholders to rise to this new threat against the wellbeing of Nigerians. The starting point should be investment in preventive healthcare which should include massive public enlightenment on the likely causes of renal-related diseases. Emphasis should also be placed on periodic medical tests as early detection could help check further deterioration. Also, government should tackle the menace of fake drugs, and check the unregulated sale and consumption of herbal mixtures publicly displayed at motor parks, in buses, at workplaces and even residential areas as chemical composition of most of these herbal drugs are not only unknown, there are no proven tests to determine their side effects.
While we hope that National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will wake up to its responsibility in this regard, much more importantly, there is an urgent need for proper funding of the health sector. There are currently reports that Nigeria does not have enough nephrologists and lack adequate functional dialysis centers to cater for the increasing number of victims of renal failure. Even the few dialysis centers that exist are located in urban areas thereby denying victims of the disease in rural areas access to treatment. This therefore calls for the expansion of medical infrastructure across the country and the need for capacity building to cope with this new threat. Policy measures that would encourage massive private sector investment in the health sector, especially in the area of establishing world class medical centers, should be initiated.
