KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — More than half of chronic kidney patients in the country needing dialysis treatment are diabetic.
During a talk show segment on Bernama, Dr Lily Mushahar, head of the Nephrology Department, Hospital Tuanku Jaafar in Seremban, highlighted the increasing number of kidney patients seen each year.
“A total of 7,000 new patients suffering from kidney disease are discovered every year and need to undergo dialysis treatment.”
21,000 patients, who have undergone dialysis treatment, are waiting for kidney donors.
66 percent of the 55,000 chronic kidney patients needing dialysis also suffer from diabetes. A third of them suffer from high blood pressure and other factors such as kidney cancer, genetic diseases, and over consumption of pain killers and other drugs without seeking the advice of doctors.
She stated that unbalanced food intake and preference for sweet food caused diabetes, which would later develop into kidney disease.
Dr Nor Fadhlina Zakaria of Universiti Putra Malaysia who was also on the show, recommended that health screening should be done yearly, especially those living with diabetes and hypertension.
The number of kidney donations in the country is still too low. Only 1.3 percent of Malaysians are registered as kidney donors.