“We would like to assure the public that patients will not die if they undergo dialysis or transplant, but instead they (treatments) would prolong life,” she told the media during the Kapihan sa PIA on June 1 in time for the kick off of the National Kidney Month celebration.

Bad-ang said that the renal disease awareness and prevention campaign this year focuses on urging patients to submit themselves to treatment, following a report that chronic renal disease is now among the top 10 causes of mortality in the country.

Moreover, Bad-ang lamented that Davao Region placed fourth in the whole country as having the most number of new patients in hemodialysis in 2010.

She also reported that the number of new dialysis patients is increasing every year by 10 percent based on the data from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry 2010, which she said is “alarming.”

She said 5.9 percent of the 9,716 new dialysis patients registered in 2010 came from the region, explaining however that this may be because Davao Region is the center of diagnosis and treatment for patients coming from other parts in Mindanao.

At present, there are 243 dialysis patients at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) alone, added Bad-ang.

“We have to act now,” Bad-ang emphasized, noting that there are treatment options offered for the patients, such as dialysis and kidney transplant.

However, she said each treatment comes with a cost, citing that the rate of the hemodialysis, which is done two to three times a week, ranges from P500 to P800 per session.

For the kidney transplant operation, about P600,000 to P800,000 would be required for a patient with kidney donor who is a relative, while the patient without a kidney donor relative would need up to P1.2 million.

Bad-ang also raised the importance of a yearly urine examination as a step for an early recognition and prevention of the underlying causes of the kidney disease.

The Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP)-National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) said that the leading cause of the end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is defined to be the complete or almost complete failure of the kidneys to function, secondary are diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

REDCOP-NKTI added that maintenance of normal blood sugar levels and blood pressure is very important to prevent or delay the development of kidney problems that usually lead to ESKD. (CLC-PIA 11)

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