NCP records over 2,000 kidney cases yearly

Nadira Gunatilleke

Nearly 2,000 kidney patients are registered at the Anuradhapura Renal Care and Research Centre to attend regular clinics and at least 40 new patients are diagnosed every week, the Medical Officer attached to the Centre Dr. A.P. Sampath said. A large number of new young patients are registered and some are in the last stages of the disease, Dr. Sampath said.

He said 2,000 kidney patients from different parts of the region have been registered with the centre and attend clinics. Kidney patients above the age of 40 are the most affected because they do not receive free dialysis. Only patients below the age of 40 receive free dialysis from the Centre.

According to Dr. Sampath, some times more than one member of the same family suffer from kidney disease. "Then it becomes more serious because of the unbearable cost of treatment," he said.

The majority of the patients above the age of 40 are breadwinners of their families and it is a huge burden for their families. The centre has to address the problems of the kidney patients as well as their families, Dr. Sampath said.

Anuradhapura Hospital Director Dr. W.M.T.B. Wijekoon said about 15,000 kidney patients have been discovered from the affected region since the mid nineties and 305 kidney patients were admitted to hospital in 2008 out of which 130 of them died.

Eight hundred and thirty four kidney patients were admitted to the hospital in 2007 and 208 of them died. The number of kidney patients' deaths in 2006 is 181, he said.