Every year in India patients with Kidney related diseases rises from 2,20,000 to 2,75,000 in which they need Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) said the experts. They also said Indian population based studies estimated the incidence of End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) at 150 to 230 per million.
“There are different kinds of renal diseases, some even leading to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Among the major reasons behind the damage of kidneys are diabetes, hardening of arteries and high blood pressure. The number of people needing the RRTs has increased over the years,” said Ramesh Jain, head of a center for Kidney Transplant and Renal Sciences at city based Saroj Super Speciality Hospital.
RRT is a therapy to replace normal blood filtering function of Kidneys. This is used when Kidneys are not working well called as a Renal failure that includes acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease.
D.K. Aggarwal, Senior Nephrologists Apollo Hospital, said: “The real problem, however, lies in the diagnosis of the disease because unless there’s a tumour or the kidneys are swollen, it becomes difficult for the doctors to check by simply feeling the kidneys. So a lot of cases goes undiagnosed at the initial level and become prominent only when the situation deteriorates.”
He said, “There are tests that check the kidney tissues, take urine samples and check for protein, sugar, blood and ketones. End-stage kidney failures are only controlled by dialysis or kidney transplant. Dialysis can be done once a week or more often depending on the condition. However it is important to have dialysis facilities in all hospitals, which has been a failure till now.”
Health ministry says 2,000 new dialysis centres will be set at district level hospitals the in the country within next two years.