Hundreds of kidney patients die for want of treatment

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 25

Abdul Ahad Jan of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district died in February due to kidney failure. His death became news because he had hurled a shoe at former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in 2010.

Unlike Jan, every year, hundreds of Kashmiri people die silently due to the chronic kidney diseases (CKD), with doctors saying over 60 per cent patients having kidney ailments are suffering from the CKD.

Official data reveals that out of 3,842 admissions in 2015 in the Nephrology Department of the SK Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS), 2,300 were suffering from the CKD.

“Nearly 20-30 per cent CKD patients die every year due to lack of treatment or infection in Kashmir,” Associate Professor, Nephrology, SKIMS, Dr Muzaffar Wani said.

The renal functions are unlikely to recover in the CKD patients and they need renal support like dialysis or renal transplant in cases of renal failure, Wani said.

Wani said the two main causes of kidney diseases in Kashmir, which are same as in any other part of the world, are long-standing diabetes and hypertension. But, kidney diseases could be prevented by intake of proper food, control on salt and avoiding self-medication.

He said the kidney diseases are not area specific and all districts in Kashmir are equally affected.

As the number of CKD patients are increasing alarmingly in Kashmir, the lack of infrastructure and government support is making patients fall prey to this killer disease.

Set up in the 1980s, the Department of Nephrology in the SKIMS is unable to cater to the “huge rush” of patients due to the failure of proportionate infrastructure growth. “We need to have more beds both in general wards and Intensive Care Unit. Also, both diagnostic and therapeutic infrastructure and skilled human resource are needed,” he said.

At least 50 per cent of the staff has either superannuated or will do so till mid-2017 and there is no replacement in place, he said.

For early detection of the kidney diseases, Wani said augmentation of infrastructure and awareness among people and caregivers are needed in both rural and urban areas of Kashmir.

The Centre government in 2016 announced the national dialysis programme to provide free haemodialysis in the district hospitals. However, the scheme also failed to take off in the state due to the non-serious attitude of Health Minister Bali Bhagat.

Besides, an NGO, Boukvat, is helping poor patients by providing free dialysis on regular basis to them.

The treatment for the CKD patients is Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT), which can be either dialysis or kidney transplantation, apart from normal medication.

However, doctors said less than 7 per cent of people suffering from the CKD get dialysis treatment in the state due to limited facilities at government hospitals.

On an average a person with advanced CKD would have to shelve something like Rs 30,000- 40,000 per month for dialysis and medication, he said.

Over 60% suffering from chronic diseases 

• Every year, hundreds of Kashmiri people die due to chronic kidney diseases. Doctors say over 60 per cent of the patients having kidney ailments are suffering from these diseases
• Official data reveals that out of 3,842 admissions in 2015 in the nephrology department of the SK Institute of Medical Science, 2,300 were suffering from chronic kidney diseases