World Kidney Day: Dar hospital offers free screening
REGENCY Medical Centre (RMC) has organised free kidney screening camp to commemorate World Kidney Day which is commemorated on March 9th worldwide.
The screening camp will be held today (Thursday) at Regency Specialised Polyclinic in Dar es Salaam, where various kidney specialists will provide free consultations to the general public.
Nephrologist at the RMC, Dr Sudakshnina Ghosh, said they have been organising such camps in every second week of March to commemorate World Kidney Day.
She said the free screening will include diabetes, hypertension, weight, urinalysis and height to know if someone has kidney problem.
“For the whole day we will screen kidney diseases then give free consultations for people who have any symptoms of kidney problem and dieticians, will be there to advice `on the best way to eat because food also play an important role in preventing kidney diseases,” she said.
Dr Ghosh said people can live well with kidney diseases and during the camp they will educate people about kidney problems because it increases globally.
She said according to World Health Organisation (WHO), it is estimated that one out of ten people have some sort of kidney diseases and those at the age of 65 and above one in every five have kidney diseases which is real alarming.
She said during the day they will educate the public over kidney disease and why it is important for people to know their health status by doing regular checkup.
She said most of the time kidney diseases have no symptoms and by the time patient attend to hospital the kidney has already been affected by 90 per cent, forcing a long-term treatment called Dialysis or transplant which is very expensive.
“The cost of transplant sometimes is not affordable so the best way to combat this problem is through screening.
She advised people to prioritise preventive measures such as doing kidney checkup every year especially for people aged from 35 years and above.
“Make sure your blood pressure and diabetes is under control and by doing so you can prevent kidney diseases and if you have any symptoms like legs swelling or your urine output is reduced please see your doctor immediately,” she said.
She said it is the vision of the Founder and Chairman of Regency Medical Centre, the late Dr Rajni Kanabar that they should focus on kidney diseases.
