Kathmandu, Jan. 2: Former chief justice Bishwonath Upadhyaya today said that kidney disease is on the rise in Nepal. However, due to inadequate health facilities in the country, especially in the rural areas where the majority of the population reside, people are not getting due medical attention to treat kidney-related diseases, he said.
He said this while inaugurating an interaction programme on ” Kidney disease, surgeon’s role and future development” at the Russian Cultural Centre this afternoon.
Since most of the kidney specialists are concentrated only in Kathmandu Valley, if the majority of the people are to be availed of medical facilities to treat kidney-related diseases, then the government should pay due attention to this and come up with appropriate medical programmes, he said.
Earlier, he gave away letters of appreciation to persons who had contributed to the Nepal Kidney Care Foundation.
Special guest Dr L. Srinivasan, a consultant surgeon from India said that though kidney disease is a debilitating one, over the last few decades, medical research had made medical professionals understand the disease better and various forms of treatment aimed at improving the quality of life of such patients were available.
However, human and material resources are needed to build patient care facilities for people suffering from kidney diseases. While information about kidney diseases could be obtained through books, journals and electronic media, the training of medical staff can only be done in places where there are programmes for the treatment of kidney diseases and are already well established, he said.
Another special guest and chief consultant surgeon from India, Dr. P. Pravichandran, said that kidney disease, which is on the rise in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, is mainly attributed to rapid urbanisation and sudden increase in diabetic and heart diseases.
Though 80% of kidney failure are preventable or at least prolonged, it is not so in these countries because of the lack of co-ordinated approach among various health delivery organisations, he pointed out. Unlike other diseases, management of kidney-related problems are unique in that it needs highly trained and dedicated teamwork including the public, physicians, paramedics.
Lauding the role played by Nepalese doctors for their co-ordinated efforts to provide better treatment facilities to kidney patients in Nepal, he appealed to all to understand that it is not the responsibility of the doctors alone but the collective responsibility of society to combine and put up a united fight against kidney-related diseases.
DIG Prem Lal Shrestha of the Birendra Police Hospital, Special Secretary in Ministry of Health Somnath Aryal, nefrologists Prakash Raj Regmi, Rishi Kafle and Bharat Lal Shrestha also spoke on the problems, treatment and prevention of kidney diseases. NKCF’s general secretary Madhu Acharya outlined the foundation’s activities.
The programme was jointly organised by the Nepal Kidney Care Foundation and the Birendra Police Hospital. Litterateur Romola Devi Shah (Chhinnalata) was another guest of the function.