Ondo tackles kidney disease

In 2014, the Ondo state government established a Kidney Care Centre as part of its medical village as part of moves to urgently nip in the bud, the rising incidences of Non Communicable Diseases in the state. During a tour of the Centre,  Good Health Weekly gathered from the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Akin Bodewa Akinwunmi,  that from a study carried out in Akure South and Ondo West in 2014/2015,  High Blood Pressure had a prevalence of about 75 percent while obesity among women was more than 90 percent.

The study also showed that  about 90 percent of the participants were diabetic while 15 percent had abnormal levels of protein in their urine.

Dialysis

The scary statistics shows that many  people in the state could be going about with the potential risk of developing kidney diseases. In recognition of this, the state government began a state-wide screening for HBP, diabetes, HIV and kidney diseases. The Centre, established as a stand-alone hospital has dialysed over 3,000 people with various kidney disorders.   Currently, an average of 7-10 patients are seen daily or 210 patients every month.

The Centre is averagely staffed and Akinwunmi  said urgent intervention is required to prevent alarming rise in prevalence of kidney disorders in the state. He said the results of the study conducted by the state had prompted the government to offer counselling, screening and education about kidney disease prevention and the development of chronic kidney disease.

“As a primary care centre, we have visited so many villages in Ondo State, we found out now that many of the people who have HIV infection also suffer kidney disease which tends to kill  faster. We are also working with Ondo State Agency for the Control of AIDS, We now know that HIV is one of the causes of kidney disease and once a person has  kidney disease, survival is reduced.

“Our work here is more of prevention. The Kidney Care Centre was put in place to rescue patients who have kidney disease whether acute or chronic.”

Akinwunmi said currently, the research team of the centre is working on a study to ascertain why many Ondo women are obese and why many of the people are having diabetes, hypertension and kidney diseases.

“There is an ongoing study looking at our diet. In Nigeria we take a lot of palm oil that has a lot of fat. We are doing this to find out if our food is really safe. We have gone out to look at our children and our parents. Our women are now fat. Why are they fat? Is it because they are taking a lot of fatty foods? When we do such research, we will be able to now tell the people, that it is better to reduce the oil intake and go for soya oil.  Then, we can sound more convincing.

Noting that kidney disease is not a death sentence, he said the Centre is yet to begin kidney transplant, but  the government has signed an MoU to establish a transplant unit.

Urination

“As an adult, when you go to sleep, you are not expected to wake up more than once to urinate no matter how much water you have taken. If you wake up once, it is okay but if it is more than that, it could be that there is a problem with the kidney, the heart, and prostate gland.

“From this centre, we see more of the causes as diabetes and some are already placed on dialysis. There is need for people that are hypertensive to go for regular screening because it can lead to kidney disease. Hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are silent killers of the kidney,” he explained.

He said most people with kidney diseases do not know until about 50 percent of the kidney function is destroyed.

“Suddenly you just find that the person will begin to vomit and have swollen face and legs in the morning. Performance level will reduce. She would be weak and tired, her periods will begin to fail, and she would assume  she is pregnant.

“The symptoms look like pregnancy but it is not.   Before these signs, the complications are already almost irreversible. He urged hypertensive, diabetic and obese patients to seek medical attention promptly and to avoid self medication. Vang