Health Zone : How to Prevent Kidney Damage – India Expert

A senior consultant nephrologist at Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India, Dr Devendra Agarwal, has revealed that diabetes, smoking, hypertension and self medication are major factors responsible for kidney damage in Nigeria.

Agawal, who spoke in Abuja to sensitize Nigerians on how to avoid kidney damage, as well as what to do to manage it, said the disease is avoidable.

According to him, to prevent kidney damage, people should abstain from poor lifestyle, engage in healthy exercises as well as watch what they eat, especially the level of fats in their food.

Agarwal said diabetes has been discovered to be a major cause of kidney diseases as half of the patients suffering from renal failure brought to his hospital for kidney transplant are often diabetic

“Smoking, which people say affects the heart and lungs have been found to be injurious to kidneys too. Pain killers used over a long time can predispose people to kidney damage.

He therefore advised that pain killers should be taken only when they are required. “If we take care of these things, we can cut down the numbers of patients with kidney failure,” he added.

The nephrologist said transplantation and dialysis are the two options often explored to restore a damaged kidney. Dialysis, he said, continues throughout the lifetime of a kidney patient, adding that a patient only gets one kidney in transplant.

“Many patients from Nigeria have undergone kidney transplantation and they are doing fine. Most people who have done transplants do normal jobs and get back to routine life. But, things can be different in the event of donor for transplant. We often advise the patient to continue with dialysis, which is the cleaning of the blood by a machine for four hours. This is required for two or three times a week and it is life-long,” he said.