World Kidney Day Dialysis patients receive gifts |11 March 2022
To mark World Kidney Day yesterday patients undergoing dialysis received gifts in the form of food diaries from AMSA Renal Care in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
As part of the celebrations, a group of AMSA staff also donated blood at the Seychelles Hospital’s Blood Transfusion Centre.
The ceremony was attended by the high commissioner of India, Retd. General Dalbir Singh Suhag; director of Hospital Services, Dr Kenneth Henriette; the chief financial controller of AMSA group, Kuldeep Singh; staff from the dialysis unit and AMSA renal care.
World Kidney Day is celebrated on March 10 annually and the theme for this year is ‘Bridging the knowledge gap to better health care’. This is to create awareness about kidney health using various strategies in kidney health education.
Kidney disease is a high burden worldwide as a result of poor kidney care and can lead to kidney failure. Seychelles currently has 186 patients on dialysis and over 200 people following the outpatient renal clinic.
In his address, High Commissioner Suhag stressed on the importance of creating awareness with regard to kidney care. He noted that one week of awareness has been organised by AMSA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. The first activity on the agenda is the counselling of patients, health care awareness programmes followed by media campaigns and culminating with blood donation. “One lesson that Covid has taught us is that health is more important than wealth,” he emphasised.
Dr Henriette stated that kidney diseases affect one in ten people globally, adding that by 2040 it is estimated that kidney diseases will be the leading cause of death in the world. This will become a public health concern.
The director of Hospital Services said we all have to be aware of how to screen for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension that impact the kidneys.
He highlighted that this is why World Kidney Day is so important.
The nurse manager at the Dialysis Unit, Elsia Sinon, said they are encountering a rise in patients and sooner or later will need to have three sessions per day compared to the current two sessions.
From 2021 to present the dialysis unit saw 23 new patients and predicts an increase in the future.
The nurse manager said not just those who consume large amounts of alcohol is affected by kidney disease.
In total during the pandemic the dialysis unit lost about ten patients to Covid-19 due to complications.
Marla Simeon
