Korle-Bu records more kidney cases

Chronic kidney disease in Ghana is said to be on the increase, with the Renal Unit of the Medical Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) recording 3,281 cases in 2010.
The figure, according to the Head of the unit, Dr Charlotte Osafo, was a 38 per cent increase over the cases recorded in 2009.
Risk factors of kidney disease are the presence of high blood pressure, diabetes, overweight, as well as smoking, excessive alcohol intake, adults aged 50 and above, people with family history of kidney disease, abuse of over-the-counter pain killers, indiscriminate use of all kinds of herbal medicines, among others.
Addressing journalists at the launch of this year’s World Kidney Day organised by the Ghana National Kidney Foundation, Dr Osafo said recent data from the KBTH showed that 15 per cent of all medical admissions were kidney diseases.
“In addition, 10 per cent of all deaths at the medical wards of the hospital are due to chronic kidney disease,” she stated.
Dr Osafo explained that most patients with chronic kidney disease were aged between 20 and 50, adding it was unfortunate that the disease affected and killed young economically active Ghanaians.
She said the early detection of kidney impairment was essential and allowed suitable treatment before kidney damage or deterioration or before such a condition manifested itself through other complications.
She said since the management of kidney impairment, especially the chronic type which involved dialysis and surgery (transplant), was very expensive, it was important for people to know their status early enough to enable them to go for early treatment to prevent further damage to the organ.
Kidney function test, according to her, could be done at many medical facilities and laboratories at a minimum cost.
She, therefore, called on the public to check if they were at risk for kidney disease through a simple test which involved blood pressure, weight and height measurement, as well as urine and blood tests.
As part of the programme, media personnel who attended the programme were offered medical screening for kidney disease and also counselled on healthy living.
A 14-year-old kidney disease patient, Priscilla Asare from Agona Swedru, shared with media personnel some of the problems she had been experiencing as a patient, including constant bodily pain, lack of sleep and, most importantly, her inability to go to school.