Fivefold increase in kidney patients over a decade
07-01-2008 06:53:17 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of kidney patients undergoing dialysis in Malaysia has increased five fold over the past decade, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said today.
He said as at 2006, there were about 14,647 kidney patients undergoing dialysis compared to only 2,922 patients a decade ago.
"Currently there are about 118 new cases of kidney failure or endstage kidney disease per million population per year. This means that for the Malaysian population of 26 million, there are about 3,000 new cases a year," he said when launching the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Mobile Health Screening Unit, here today.
Dr Mohd Ismail said 57 per cent of new dialysis patients were found to be diabetic while another six per cent developed endstage kidney failure due to hypertension."Unfortunately there is an increasing trend of diabetes and hypertension as a cause of kidney failure," he said, adding that this was extremely worrying as these were lifestyle diseases that could be controlled or even prevented.
Earlier, the Chairman of the NKF Management Board, Dr S.S. Gill said the mobile clinic was in the form of a bus that could accommodate 40 people offering medical checks for a fee of only RM2.
He said the checks were aimed at detecting diseases suffered at the early stage, especially kidney problems so that immediate measures could be taken to treat them.Initially, the mobile clinic would provide services to the public within the Klang Valley before expanding to other areas, he said. BERNAMA