More than 21 million people have been diagnosed with serious kidney diseases and most of them might suffer kidney failure due to high blood pressure, diabetes and improper healthcare infrastructure across the country.
This was revealed by Associate Professor Waqar Kazmi, Director Research of Dow University while addressing a press conference at Kidney Center Karachi on Wednesday.
A survey was carried out in rural areas of the country with a view to find out people between 25 to 60 of age, apparently look healthy and normal but virtually were ill, he said. "The survey is first of its kind in Pakistan to help the government and other organisations combat this menace."
He said that affected persons confronted with serious problems of communication and were unaware about the disease they were carrying, terming this posture of patients "lethal". Highlighting the salient features of the survey, he pointed out that it was carried out in the rural areas of the country, adding that Punjab stood at top of the list of maximum kidney patients' areas.
The survey disclosed that 19 percent were affected by kidney diseases in Punjab, 12 percent in Balochistan and NWFP whereas 7 percent in Sindh. Dr Kazmi said that diabetics and high blood pressure were the chief reasons of kidney related diseases and Punjab is on the top with 41 percent of high blood pressure and 22 percent of population is affected from this disease.
Transplantation of kidney was costlier and unaffordable for patient from middle and lower classes of the society, he added. He advised that people take care of themselves and periodically get themselves examined to avoid such diseases in advance.
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