KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Science and technology has prevailed in the 21st century, but people nowadays are facing numerous serious diseases, such as kidney disease.
In Malaysia, there is a total of 25,000 kidney disease patients and the number is on the rise with 4 to 5 thousands new cases per year. For patients who have reached stage 5 of kidney failure, the only way to extend their life is through dialysis treatment or kidney transplant. Both are equally expensive for the patients and their family. Experts from Sunway Medical Centre talk with The Epoch Times about the kidney disease and its preventions.
Kidney Disease Is Expensive
Dr. Thiruventhiran, Consultant Nephoroglost in Sunway Medical Centre explained that kidney disease has 5 stages from stage 1 to stage 5.
“From stage 1 to stage 4, the treatment is medical. The doctor just treats the patients with medication. But once they reach stage 5, they need something called dialysis treatment. Dialysis treatment is an artificial form of treatment in which the patient’s blood is taken out from him, cleaned in a machine called haemodialysis machine and then put back to the patient,” said Dr. Thiruventhiran.
Dr. Thiruventhiran said in Malaysia, about 60 percent of patients who need dialysis have diabetes, which is largely lifestyle disease and preventable. About 5-10 percent kidney disease patients also suffer hypertension, which is also a lifestyle disease. Only 20-30 percent of cases are due to kidney disease itself.
He said once patient reaches the end stage of kidney failure, dialysis is mandatory to sustain life. Patients require the treatment three times per week and each session last for 4 hours. The total cost of one dialysis session is RM300-350 (US$98-$114), not including the cost of medications on top of that. Therefore, each dialysis patient must spend RM3,000-4,000 (US$978 - $1,300) per month.
“This is a huge burden to the patients. This is why the government is still the major provider of dialysis.
“Sixty percent of dialysis patients receive some form of funding from the government; 20 percent of patients are self-funded, meaning patients pay themselves or the funds come from a third party, such as their company or insurance. The government either provides dialysis in the government hospitals, which is free, or they provide subsidies to the NGOs of dialysis,” said Dr. Thiruventhiran.
Dr. Thiruventhiran summarized that there’s a huge lifestyle component to kidney diseases, like diabetes, hypertension, dietary intake, all these contribute to kidney disease. It is really important for people to be made aware that if you really want to take care of yourself, you need to take of all these lifestyle issues so that 10-15 years down the line, you don’t end up with kidney failure. Preventive measures are more important than anything else, he says.
