KARACHI : Vice Chancellor Dow University of Health Sciences, Prof Mohammed Saeed Quraishy said that the rate of kidney diseases is on the rise, fearing that if preventive methods are not adopted on war footing, it could increase death rate in the country.

The treatment of kidney problems is painful while the prevention is easier. There have been 131 renal transplants and 2,500 dialysis procedures at Dow University till now. There are expert laparoscopic and endoscopic surgeons to deal with surgeries. We are extending efforts to keep up with the latest technology to make our services better in the future. He said while speaking at the OPD Lecture Hall of Dow University Hospital after an awareness walk held to celebrate World Kidney Day.

The seminar was also addressed by Prof. Rashid Bin Hamid, Dr. Mohammad Tasadduq Khan, Dr. Hamid Mithani and Dietician Hina Badar. Prof. Mohammad Saeed Quraishy added that the awareness walk and seminar is aimed at creating awareness of the importance of kidney related problems. There are 3 key risk factors that become the cause of kidney diseases; chronic complications of diabetes, hypertension and kidney stones which are caused due to imbalanced diet and no physical activity like exercise.

Chief Renal Transplant Surgeon Dr. Rashid Bin Hamid revealed that kidney disease is the sixth fastest growing cause of death. 10 percent population of the world is estimated to be suffering from kidney diseases due to various causes and 2.4 million of them are estimated to die annually. In case of kidney failure, transplantation is the only way out of death but unfortunately, transplantation is quite expensive. Dow University provides community basis transplantation on significantly low rates but still, most of the people cannot afford it.