Health Minister calls for research into state of kidney failure

Nov 30, 2016 News

---

…but promotes prevention as best approach to combat disease

A call for expert research to be done into Guyana’s kidney failure situation has been made by Minister

of Public Health, Dr. George Norton. The Minister made this disclosure recently when asked by this publication about reports that there has been an increase in the number of deaths associated with kidney failure.
He noted that he was not in a position to share details about the related deaths since proper research has not yet been conducted. It was for this very reason, he noted, that he was urging research in this area.
Recently the Minister was in receipt of a report of research which compared the advantages of haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
“I would encourage more people to do research like this so that we can know the real situation about kidney disease,” said the Minister as he spoke of the need to “examine the collection of the data, the expertise with which the analyses were made, and compare it with information that exists before a policy decision is made, if we have that recommendation.”
But according to Minister Norton, currently his Ministry is embracing a prevention approach to tackle kidney failure by promoting healthy lifestyles.
This is in light of the fact, the Minister said, that treatment for this health challenge is very expensive.
“With an economy like we have, it (treatment) is almost impossible to sustain,” asserted Minister Norton, as he considered that there are an increasing number of people being diagnosed with diabetes, a condition that can cause kidney failure.
“It is happening at an alarming rate among younger persons too, and the intensity of that is increasing…unless we become sufficiently concerned and educated about our lifestyle, only then will we be able to curtail it,” the Minister noted.
There are reports that suggest that currently there are about 8,000 individuals being diagnosed with kidney failure annually. While the public health sector is able to offer treatment, this service becomes limited when dialysis is required.
Patients are offered a few free sessions at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation after which they are given a one-off financial support to access the service elsewhere. This is in light of the fact that the hospital simply hasn’t the capacity to continuously cater to all patients seeking dialysis treatment.
There are at least three privately-operated facilities that offer dialysis treatment that patients can access.
In the past, kidney failure patients were afforded financial support from the Ministry of Health which covered about 40 sessions of dialysis at a private institution per year. However, the high cost of offering this service had caused the Ministry to revise its financial support, whereby patients are only offered a one-off cheque of $360,000 which can cover about 40 sessions.
After these sessions are completed, many patients are unable to afford to continue dialysis treatment.
Approximately 110 patients, between the ages of 14 and 75, have passed through the GPHC dialysis unit during the past three years, according to Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Kishore Persaud.
Because of the limited forthcoming support, Dr. Persaud disclosed that the resulting situation is that an increasing number of these patients have been opting to not undergo dialysis treatment privately, although this could help to extend their lives. This state of affairs has been linked to these patients’ economic standing which sees them unable to afford the cost for the life-saving treatment.
There are reports that suggest that there has been an alarming increase in the number of renal failure-related deaths this year.
Although he admitted that there has been an increase in the number of kidney failure-related deaths, Dr. Persaud during an interview with this publication was also unable to share how many.
He nevertheless disclosed that while the main causes of renal failure are diabetes and high blood pressure, the public health sector is looking to reduce its impact by developing its primary care.
“Once we can develop our primary care out there to prevent and have patients control their sugar and pressure, we can help to prevent this (kidney failure),” said Dr. Persaud.
There are, however, some persons who suffer from auto-immune diseases that damage the kidneys and kidney failure in such cases may not be preventable.
However, patients with kidney failure who are young and healthy enough could undergo kidney transplant surgery at the GPHC.
Kidney transplant surgeries are conducted free of cost at the GPHC. However, patients, once they have a suitable donor, are expected to meet the approximately $1 million cost to have cross-matching tests done ahead of surgery. This money is not paid to the GPHC, but rather, a Miami University which conducts the tests.

---

---