Cebu hosts seminar on kidney diseases and dysfunctions

CEBU, Philippines - Around 50 provincial, city and municipal health officers in Central Visayas will gather in Cebu next week for a one-day seminar on urinalysis as a basic tool to detect kidney dysfunction amid the identification of kidney disease as among the top 10 leading cause of mortality rate among Filipinos.

With the theme, “Urinalysis: Maximizing the Use of a Basic Tool for Diagnosis and Prevention of Kidney Diseases,” the activity, which is scheduled on March 23, is an undertaking of the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) in collaboration with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

As kidney disease has been identified as the seventh leading cause of death in the country, the NKTI under its Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP) and in partnership with the PIA is leading a nationwide education campaign to identified stakeholders such as physicians, health professionals, local executives and ordinary folks through trainers’ training, workshops, fora and media conferences.

People with kidney disease especially those with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) undergo dialysis to prolong their lives while every year, 12,000 Filipinos with ESRD need such treatments which are expensive spending an average cost of P4,000 per month. Those without money to pay for dialysis eventually die, according to the REDCOP project brief.

Kidneys are responsible for removing wastes products from metabolism such as urea, uric acid and creatinine by producing and secreting urine. The kidneys also help maintain homeostasis by regulating acid-base balance or the concentration and volume of fluids, this is learned.

Kidney transplant on the other hand, is very costly as transplanted patients spend P800,000 to P1.2M and require lifetime drug maintenance with an average cost of P20-30,000 a month, this is learned.

The National Kidney and Transplant Institute-Renal Disease Control Program (NKTI-REDCOP) is a national program that aims to reduce the rising number of kidney diseases in the country.

For more than a decade, the NKTI and PIA have been working closely in bringing REDCOP to institutions, campuses and homes to help the public understand and prevent kidney diseases.

Because of the successful partnership between the NKTI and PIA which had made a huge impact on the promotion of REDCOP, the program was hailed as the Outstanding Public Information Tool in Print Category during the 13th Gawad Oscar M. Florendo.

The REDCOP was also heralded as the 2010 Outstanding Health Research Award (OHRA) by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and the Department of Health because of the impact of the research which lead to the improvement of the lives of patient with ESDR. The award was given during the Department of Science and Technology-National Science and Technology Week last year.

For the Cebu event, the PIA is helping the NKTI promote urinalysis as an inexpensive method of evaluating kidney function. Such similar activity already started in Central Luzon and Region 6 and intends to cover the whole country. (PIA-Cebu) (FREEMAN)