Nephrologists gone missing

Nadira Gunatilleke

Four Sri Lankan Nephrologists who underwent a six year training abroad have not returned to the country, Sri Lanka Medical Association President Prof Rizvi Sheriff said. The Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) trained six Nephrologists for the state sector and two for the private sector.

Another nine Nephrologists are now undergoing training in both local and foreign institutes, Prof. Sheriff said.

Presenting Sri Lanka’s country report during Nephrology, Urology and Transplant Society (NUTS) of SAARC, the seventh Conference at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo, Prof.Sheriff said there are 24 HD machines in the Anuradhapura Hospital and small dialysis centres at teaching hospitals such as Colombo South, Jaffna, Karapitiya, Kurunegala and Ampara.

“But there are no trained Nephrologists at these centres,” he said.

According to Prof. Sheriff, 630 kidney transplants had been done in Sri Lanka up to date and 520 of them had been done in Kandy while another 78 had been done at Sri Jayawardhanapura Hospital.

The number of kidney transplants at the Colombo National Hospital is 60. The number of kidney transplants done at the Apollo Hospital, Colombo is 135, he said.

Less than five Cadaveric transplants (a transplant from a deceased and usually unrelated donor) had been done in Sri Lanka last year and the total number of Cadaveric transplants that took place so far is 75. Another significant factor is 99 percent of transplants were live donor transplants and only one percent of kidney transplants were Cadaveric transplants, he said.

Diabetic, hypertension, Leptospirosis and calculus diseases are some of the common factors that cause kidney diseases in Sri Lanka. The problem exists in the North Central Province.