Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol. June 03, 2013 (PIA) – Bohol hosts this year’s four major activities for the National Kidney Month celebration in June, all to the benefit of Boholanos who rank high among the country’s most susceptible to renal diseases.
This June, the traveling awareness and information caravan spreading tips and guides on the prevention and control of renal and other related diseases caravan comes to Region 7, specifically in Tagbilaran City.
Coming to Bohol bringing the national theme “Malusog na Bato, Yan ang Gusto Ko,” the team from the country’s Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP) also packs the country’s top experts in renal disease with them.
The activities here include a consultative forum on kidney diseases with lay persons and medical experts from the Department of Health (DOH), National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) Medical Outreach Program, Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) tests, and free Urinalysis pre-screening and medical consultations for those with positive urinalysis and FBS results, according to the country’s authorities at the Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP).
Started as Preventive Nephrology Project, the REDCOP of the DOH then came via a memorandum order issued in 2000.
The same order put the NKTI as REDCOP’s main implementing agency in activities relative to kidney disease prevention and control as well as promotion of end-stage renal disease patients’ health including organ transplantation and organ donation.
Kidneys perform the important function of removing waste products from the blood and regulating the water fluid levels, explained Dr. Rene Sales during one Kapihan sa PIA.
They are so important in removing waste products from the body, keeping toxins from building up in the bloodstream, producing hormones that control other body functions, such as regulating blood pressure and producing red blood cells as well as regulating the levels of minerals or electrolytes (e.g., sodium, calcium, and potassium) and fluid in the body, he shared.
Renal disease or more commonly called kidney disease happens when a person with diabetes or hypertension disregards proper treatment.
Also, nephritis or the inflammation of the kidneys possibly due to an auto-immune system failure can cause the kidneys to fail, according to medical experts.
In several instances also, kidney failure can be caused by certain medications that can be dangerous to the kidney tissue
In Bohol, to spread the information about kidney disease prevention, REDCOP meets Boholanos via a lay forum set in the afternoon of June 20.
About 300 participants from different sectors in Bohol are set to be invited for the activity. Also simultaneous with the forum is a medical outreach free medical check-up at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, Bohol event sponsor.
Just as kidney disease cases increase in the country, a disheartening picture is seen in Bohol where a radio social service program is clogged daily with kidney patients asking for financial assistance for dialysis and medications.
This too as more and more Filipinos with diabetes and hypertension still go about their lives, disregard treatment and healthy lifestyle options, thus potentially adding up to renal disease problems.
Diabetes and hypertension still ranks among the factors that lead to kidney diseases, according to medical experts.
Complicating the problem is the fact that only a very small number of patients with failing kidney consider hemo-dialysis due to its prohibitive cost, admits Dr. Mayida Ybanez, nephrologist in Bohol.
Hemo dialysis is a method used to cleanse the blood, using a machine which acts as a temporary kidney cleaning up body waste products like creatinine and urea.
Owing to the sensitivity of the kidneys and the alarming kidney disease cases here, REDCOP with the DOH, Bohol Provincial Government and the Philippine Information Agency also brings the medical team to talk to media to engage them in helping spread the information.
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