By: Felix Ikpotor
As the world marks World Kidney Day, medical experts have warned against indiscriminate intake of herbal medicines and painkillers as such could predispose one to kidney disease.
The experts who spoke at an event to celebrate World Kidney Day at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, cautioned that common drugs gotten over the counter at chemists without appropriate prescription can cause kidney disease.
Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council, CMAC, at UPTH, Professor Datonye Alasia while speaking with journalists said increasing awareness on the dangers and risk factors associated with the ailment can help reduce the morbidity rate.
He noted that kidney care is very expensive, hence the need for people to prevent themselves against the disease.
“This day is to create awareness and seek advocacy for improved care both from practitioners, people from the population, policy makers and the government to drive action to improved kidney care.
“Kidney diseases in its acute or chronic stage is not a death sentence but it however, comes with a lot of burden or morbidity and if not checked or properly treated can lead to death and increase morbidity rate and that’s why even in Nigeria you hear alot of kidney failures and the challenge is that the cost of kidney care is expensive so you could imagine those on dialysis. Also the cost of a renal transplant is actually a big problem, so that’s why this year the theme is Advancing Equitable Access and Optimal Medical Practice. Access means that you want as many people who have kidney issues to be captured and that is why the advocacy is to ensure that kidney care is always captured under health insurance so that more people can have access to it because it’s very costly.
“People doing things that would endanger the kidney should stop, so adequate taking of water, avoid harmful substances and also herbal medications that are not standardized, sometimes indiscriminate use of medications, whether painkillers that are not prescribed including use of cosmetics that contains mercury.
“Also if you have any condition like hypertension or diabetics, those things that are drivers of kidney disease, you have to try and ensure that you control them well. So we always want to emphasize on preventive care alot because the resources are not there to care for this ailments,” he said.
The CMAC UPTH urged those with the ailment to seek the right care and present themselves early for treatment.
He assured that UPTH has the facilities to care for kidney patients in the state.
“My message for those with the disease is that they should seek the right care, right medication and they should present themselves early because early presentation is key in that way, preventive action can be taken such that even when you have the disease, the progression can be slowed down and sometimes halted. Our key focus especially in our own setting where the resources are not there is to prevent people from getting to that extreme stage.
“Our facility is a major centre for care of kidney not just locally but globally. Our centre is a centre that is in partnership with the International Society of Nephrology and other institutions outside and currently our centre has been granted mentorship status, so as we are speaking, we are mentorship facility for the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, RSUTH, we also have partnership with the Rivers State Primary Health Care Boards where we are supporting community-based kidney care programmes and right now we are also increasing our renal care services to also move on to renal transplantation,” he said.
On his part, a consultant Nephrologist and Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the UPTH, Professor Pedro Emem Chioma said over 3.1million people die annually from kidney disease and called for increased precautionary measures.
“The burden of kidney disease is so great all over the world, that we are looking at about 850 million persons having kidney diseases all over the world and about 3.1million persons die from kidney disease every year so it’s so huge that everybody should be aware of the disease.
“The common causes are generally hypertension, kidney inflammation and diabetes. Ofcourse, there are other causes and even within our communities that people use a lot of herbal remedies and drugs that they purchase from chemists which includes painkillers and all that also contributes to kidney diseases, so it’s for people to be more aware of all these and see how we can cut down on the number of persons coming down with the disease.
“My advise is that people should be aware of the importance of their kidney and what to do to safeguard their kidneys and the commonest thing we are talking about is making sure we cut down on the use of herbal medicines because many of them we don’t know what they actually contains and the dangers they can pose and from our experience, we have seen a lot of people who have used herbal medicines come down with kidney disease and some with liver disease, so that’s the first advice for them,” he said.
Chioma also warned against excess intake of salt which causes hypertension that is a risk factor for kidney disease.
“Another thing is that since we know that hypertension is one of the commonest cause of kidney disease and people consume a lot of salt and we know salt can cause hypertension, we also advice people to curtail the amount of salt they consume on daily basis, whether at home or eateries. All that will help to minimize the burden of kidney disease and we should also be able to check from time to time whether we have ailments that can predispose us to kidney disease,” he added.
Earlier while sensitizing pupils and teachers at the Community Primary School Alakahia, a Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist at the hospital, Professor Ifeoma Anochie said even children are at the risk of kidney disease, hence the need to sensitize them.
“We know that kidney problem abounds, both children and adults. There are many things that could predispose children both unborn and born, things we call congenital problems which is what happens in the womb and so pregnant women should know what to do when pregnant to avoid some of these risks occurring in children and then thereafter delivery. So in the prenatal period, the drugs they take in pregnancy can lead to it, not going for antenatal care, delivering with people that are not experienced could cause back aphasia that would affect the kidney. Kidneys are essential organs for removing waste, they are located at the back, so if the back aphasia is not supplied with the cut off during delivery, the child will come up with kidney problems,” she said.
Anochie added: “In this side of the world majority cannot afford kidney care so as Paediatrics, we have set this day to have health talk with children in public schools for them to know the functions of the kidney, to know the risks factors to avoid like infections such as urinary tract infections, sore throats, skin infections that can affect the kidney, drinking enough water and telling them what to avoid, all is to create awareness because we know it’s a killer and care is difficult in our setting, even the ones taking dialysis cannot afford it”.
