Hyderabad, Mar 15 (Representative) To commemorate World Kidney Day, an awareness campaign was hosted by Virinchi Hospital here on Thursday. It’s a global awareness campaign held annually on the second Thursday of March with the primary goal of raising awareness about the importance of our kidneys and reducing the impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. K. S. Nayak, Head Dept. of Nephrology & Renal Transplantation, Virinchi Hospital, said, according to the latest study conducted in 2020 in India, diabetes emerged as the leading cause of chronic kidney disease, followed by various other diseases. The average age of individuals affected was 50 years, with approximately 67 percent being male. Interestingly, the study found that twice as many affected patients resided in rural areas compared to urban areas. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) among the patients was 40 ml/min/1.73 m² in the study, he said. This is one of the centres of excellence for treating kidney disease in the country; in fact, Harvard Business Review came all the way from the US to study our practices and publish about us. Our work is acclaimed across the globe for home dialysis. We did the first swap kidney transplant in Hyderabad.
Our team did the first simultaneous heart and kidney transplant in the country, he said. When coming to Telangana, he said diabetes stands out as the primary cause of chronic kidney disease; HTN (hypertension) stands second, followed closely by CKDU (Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Origin), particularly prevalent among the younger generation. This trend highlights the significant impact of diabetes on kidney health as well as the emerging concern surrounding CKDu, whose origins remain unclear but pose a serious health risk, especially among younger individuals, Dr. Nayak added. Dr. Naveen Kumar Mattewada, Sr. Consultant Nephrologist & Transplant Physician, Specialist Interventional Nephrology, Virinchi Hospital, said the typical symptoms of chronic kidney disease (CKD) can vary depending on the stage of the disease, but some common signs and symptoms include weakness and easy fatigue, swelling in legs and hands, shortness of breath, persistent itching, foamy or bubbly urine, increased need to urinate, particularly at night, difficulty concentrating, decreased appetite, muscle cramps, and changes in urine colour.
Dr. Naveen Kumar Medi, Sr. Consultant-Nephrologist, Transplant Physician, Specialist’ ICU, Nephrology, Virinchi Hospitals, said the precautions to prevent kidney diseases include proper control of blood sugar, blood pressure control, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption and quitting smoking, regular physical activity, avoiding overuse of over-the-counter pain medications, and regular health check-ups, especially for at-risk patients. Our dedication to innovation is underlined by our pioneering efforts in swap transplantation, marking us as leaders in facilitating interstate and inter-hospital organ exchanges. Our ground-breaking work was triggered by our faculty initiating the first deceased donor transplantation in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh (third in India) in 1995, cementing our status as trailblazers in transplant medicine, said Dr. Sai Ravi Shankar, President, of Virinchi Hospital. Our commitment to research and innovation has led to the development of ground-breaking treatment modalities such as Allo-dialysis, whereby a patient’s attendant can act as a dialysis partner. This reduces the burden on healthcare resources while providing patient-centred care, said Satyanarayana Vedula, Vice Chairman of Virinchi Hospitals.