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Strategic collaborations crucial to furthering kidney awareness
– Foundation Chairman
Although human beings can exist with the use of a single kidney, the role of this organ is very crucial to aid an individual’s wellbeing.
This view was particularly emphasised by Chairman of the Kidney Foundation of Guyana, Major General Joseph Singh, during a recent interview.
Kidney Foundation Chairman, Joseph Singh
Moreover, the Foundation since its establishment in 2011 has been seeking to raise awareness in this regard, according to Singh, who amplified the importance of enlightening persons about the important functions that kidneys are tasked with performing.
And this awareness can start with the very basic information, Singh underscored, as he presented a summary of the work of the kidney.
“The human body has blood. Blood is the medium for exchange and metabolism, and all the waste products are channelled by the blood through the renal artery into the kidneys and it is the kidneys’ function to purify that blood and send it back through the renal vein into the other parts of the body.”
Singh speculated that many persons are not even aware that on a daily basis the kidney processes, in a cyclic mode, some 50 gallons of blood which passes through it. This, according to him, is the point where the waste products are separated and passed through the urinary system.
“If you don’t have that system operating then all of those toxins and salts, extra water etcetera remains in the system and causes damage to the very kidney,” Singh explained.
Moreover, he noted that “when you try to conceptualise these bean-shape kidneys and the functions they have to perform, you understand then why it is so important that you take care of them, and I think we have to start from that level, and when people understand that, go on to how they can prevent damage to the kidney, then go on to other things,” the Kidney Foundation Chairman said.
The Foundation has over the past few years been seeking to forge strategic collaborations in its efforts to continue its mission to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease and its prevention. In this regard, it has been able to establish a linkage with the Ministry of Health, which has in place its own Chronic Disease Committee. And of course the Foundation was invited, and has since accepted, to be a part of that body.
However, the body has not met in quite some time, according to Secretary/Treasurer of the Foundation, Dr Claudette Harry, who is optimistic that they will “get to start working again soon because we really need to get on board with this”.
The Committee also has the membership of the Pan American Health Organisation, the local Diabetic Association, the Ministry of Education’s School Health programme and the Ministry of Agriculture.
The involvement of the School Health programme, according to Dr Harry, is instrumental since “they can start teaching children what to expect; and the Agriculture Ministry’s involvement is from the point of view of diet and so on…So there is quite a broad spectrum on that Committee and I think when it starts going again we will get some place because then we will be able to work better on the education aspect of it,” said Dr Harry.
She is convinced that if each group making up the Committee works in their particular areas of influence, there is no doubt that the awareness movement will move forward considerably.
Persons currently suffering from renal failure in Guyana are able to access treatment at dialysis centres that are situated on the coast. But, according to Singh, more must be done to cater to citizens across the country as well.
“I think the Ministry of Health is looking at decentralising in order to ensure where the greatest needs are, where the highest percentage of people who are vulnerable are… in terms of putting dialysis in those areas as well,” said Singh.
And already discussions in this regard have started, even as he alluded to the Doobay Renal Centre, which has voiced its intention to partner with credible groups that can provide a building to offer dialysis service. The Doobay Centre, a not-for-profit entity which thrives on donations and fundraising activities, has promised to assist with the acquisition of machines and equipment and even the setting up of a prototype to help put in place such services across the country.
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