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CATHERINE W GICHUKI
DOHA
A Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) paediatric nephrologist has urged families to donate kidneys to children in need of transplantation, adding that children are not put on the waiting list in Qatar.
Speaking at a press conference to announce the World Kidney Day activities, HMC Paediatric Nephrologist and Senior Consultant Dr Bajes Hamad said there are paediatric patients on hemodialysis.
"We currently have four patients on hemodialysis (a dialysis machine and a special filter called an artificial kidney or a dialyser are used to clean blood) and six who are on peritoneal dialysis (a treatment for kidney failure that uses the lining of abdomen or belly to filter blood inside the body).
Dr Bajes added that there are 15 paediatric kidney patients who are on stage 5 to undergo dialysis or transplant depending on the availability of the kidney donors.
"We encourage families to donate kidneys to their children in need," he said, adding that three transplantations conducted in Qatar were successful unlike some done abroad coming back with complications.
Dr Bajes added that HMC receives 4,500 to 5,000 visits of paediatric kidney patients in a year and has around 14 clinic sessions per week.
According to him, one of those clinics is dedicated to chronic kidney disease where the paediatric nephrologists, dietitian, social worker, pharmacist and paediatric nephrology team discuss ways to address the disease.
He said the main cause of chronic kidney disease in paediatrics was congenital anomalies.
He added that high standard coordination between nephrology service and gynaecology/obstetrics during antenatal programme helps in diagnosing such cases.
"We detect those cases early from the second trimester. We start following them closely and anticipate the problem ahead of time before delivery to avoid late diagnosis," Bajes said.
Talking about adult kidney patients, HMC Nephrology Consultant Dr Mohamad Mahmood Alkadi said there are 800 hemodialysis adult kidney disease patients and 170 on peritoneal with 140 on the waiting list for transplantation.
On his part, Consultant Nephrologist Dr Awais Nauman said the estimated prevalence for kidney disease all over the world stands at eight to 10 percent.
He said that most of the kidney diseases in adults in Qatar are related to diabetes and hypertension.
Talking about how to have healthy kidneys, Consultant Nephrologist Dr Adel Aziz said one needs to have a healthy diet, daily exercise, ideal body weight to avoid obesity.
Head of Nephrology Division and Adult Nephrology Consultant Dr Hassan al Malki said the World Kidney Day activities will be celebrated on March 9 under the theme 'Kidney Disease and Obesity: Healthy Lifestyle for Healthy Kidneys' at hospitals, schools, health centres and dialysis units all over the country.
There will also be a walkathon at Katara on March 10.
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22/02/2017
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