Kidney Diseases: Nigerians Tasked On Healthy Life Style By Expert

A human resource expert, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, is calling for Nigerians to live a healthy life so as to prevent chronic kidney diseases.

He made this call during an event that had been organised by Nigerian Association of Nephrologists for the commemoration of the World Kidney Day on Saturday in Ilorin, Kwara.

According to Abdullahi, who is also a fellow of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, kidney disease has been rated as 5th major cause of death all over the world. He explained that kidney disease could be prevented if sound and frequent public awareness is created to properly educate the masses on its causes and preventions.

“These are better done through Lectures, Symposia, Conferences, Radio and TV Presentations and as well as Newspapers and Journals. Every family should make it an annual routine to screen themselves medically at a good healthcare facility to know the performance of their organs, such as kidney, liver and the heart. The essence is to diagnose and discover early whatever is going wrong. This will help prevent the progression of the aliment to a life-threatening one. Diabetes, hypertension and chronic malaria are common factors responsible for CKD.’’

Read Also: Kidney Disease: LASUTH Launches New Dialysis Unit To Improve Treatment

He advised for the public to ensure that while they are on regular medications for any of these diseases, they must also be in constant contact with their healthcare providers and also use their drugs to prevent complications.

However, he also called upon the federal, states and local governments in Nigeria to redesign the nation’s healthcare system with a view of carrying out effective implementations. He also asses that some of the facilities that were created for the management of the disease were lacking and that those which were available were absolutely inadequate to care for large number of patients, thereby making treatment unaffordable or inaccessible.

Alhaji Abdullahi put the blame of the poor healthcare service delivery system in Nigeria to corruption, an uncaring attitude and a selfish approach to governance. According to him, these reasons are responsible for the brain-drain which causes better Nigerian health professionals to seek greener pastures in other parts of the world.

He then appealed to the citizens to correct their past mistakes by voting for responsible leaders in the forthcoming general elections. He stressed that the health and education sector should be well taken-care of by those in leadership.