By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel has attributed lack of awareness on renal diseases and improper diagnosis as the reason people perish.
Emmanuel, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, said this during the 34th Conference of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN) on the theme; “Preventing Nephrology: Congenital Anomalies of Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT)” in Uyo on Tuesday.
The Governor urged NAN to create awareness and sensitise the public on how to get correct diagnosis and treatment of the the disease.
“The number one thing is awareness. People perish because of insufficient knowledge at their disposal.
“And so, the important component of this conference is to paraphrase the awarenesses, that is, the dos and don’t that are here in this professional document in a layman’s language.
“In the language that somebody on the street will understand, adapt or adopt the prescriptions and the piece of advice that you provide.
“In the world of ICT, text messages to keep the person who has been discharged on the know or what he or she should be doing.
“Post discharge from hospitals will go along way to help Akwa Ibomites and other Nigerians to escape from the diseases that are associated with malfunctioning of the kidney,” Emmanuel said.
He commended the Association for choosing the state for the 2022 conference and urged them to take advantage of the beautiful ambience to visit other parts of the state to see how conducive it is for investments.
In his remarks, the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Health, Prof. Augustine Umoh, said that the State Government would soon set up taskforce to get rid of adulterated drugs in the state.
Umoh commended the effort of the Governor in providing medical facilities and paying attention to those who are affected with renal diseases.
He pledged that the Akwa Ibom state government and the Ministry of Health were willing to partner with Nephrologists to prevent renal diseases plaguing the masses.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Prof. Fatiu Arogundade, President of Nigerian Association of Nephrology said there was need to aggressively mount preventive measures on congenital anomalies of kidney and urinary tract as the cost of treatment was very expensive.
Arogundade said that congenital anomalies of kidney and urinary tract was another major cause of kidney disease, particularly in children.
He said that the menace of oil exploration and its impact on kidney health needs to be further explored to be able to control and manage the ailment.
“In developing countries, these treatment modalities are either unaffordable or unavailable hence inaccessible to majority of patients.
“Consequently, the only realistic strategy is prevention which will include; premodial primary, secondary and tertiary,” Arogundade said.
