World Kidney Day: Renal diseases most claimed under CM’s insurance fund

25 lakh of the State population suffers from CKD. On World Kidney Day, doctors stress the importance of regularly checking blood sugar and pressure levels to prevent CKD.

As per CMCHIS data, Rs 213 crore has been spent on maintenance haemodialysis for the past five years and around 4,300 patients are being treated per year. There are 103 approved hospitals under Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu in the State that undertake kidney transplants. From 2008 till December 2018, 2,187 kidney transplants were undertaken in the State. It is the highest number among all the transplants. However, the prevalence of CKD seems to outnumber the number of patients who receive therapy or transplants.

A study titled “Are we are equipped to handle an epidemic of chronic kidney diseases?” was conducted by the Institute of Community Medicine, Madras Medical College in December 2017 to estimate the requirement of renal replacement therapy (RRT), including haemodialysis and renal transplant surgery in the population and to compute the available facility to create an evidence-based comprehensive strategy to handle CKD in Tamil Nadu.

The study revealed that the existing system can cover only around three per cent of the estimated population needing RRT and projected shortfall is around 68 per cent in haemodialysis machines. The study highlighted that the government needs to create RRT facility in the public sector covering both maintenance haemodialysis and renal therapy along with the suitable preventive strategy to reduce the risk factors and promote an early screening of diabetes and hypertension.

“There are more transplants being done and there is an increased awareness on kidney ailments. Thus, more people are getting diagnosed and treated. However, the accessibility to dialysis and renal therapies needs to be improved seeing the increased burden of the disease,” said Dr N Prahlad, consultant nephrologist, Rainbow Children’s Hospital.

Dr Lovelena Munawar, diabetologist at Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Clinic said that the alarming increase in the incidence of diabetes and hypertension is contributing to the rise in kidney diseases. While kidney disorders used to affect older people earlier, it is now common even in younger people, mainly due to lifestyle factors.

Medicos said that prevention and early detection is the key to tackle kidney diseases. “Obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of physical exercises increase the risk of kidney diseases. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels need to be in control. Thus, regular check-ups are necessary to diagnose kidney diseases at the earliest as it is difficult to treat them after a certain point and the patient gets dependent on dialysis and transplants,” said Dr Balasubramaniyam R, chief nephrologist at Kauvery Hospital.