SIBU: The best way to reduce the risk of kidney ailments is to lead a healthy lifestyle, which includes taking up a regular exercise regime, maintaining a healthy diet and going for medical checks at least once a year.
In giving this advice, Sibu Kidney Foundation (SKF) chairman Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau said many people may either be not aware or find out too late that their kidneys have failed.
“The need for dialysis or transplantation can be avoided if kidney diseases are detected early.
“As the saying goes, ‘Health is wealth’. There is nothing in our life that is more valuable than good health.
“Therefore it is important that we take good care of our critically important organs and keep them as healthy as possible at every stage of life,” he said at SKF’s 30th anniversary cum appreciation dinner here on Sunday (June 25).
According to a 2020 report by the Malaysian Dialysis and Transplant Registry (MDIR), there were more than 49,000 patients in the year 2020, said Lau.
He said it also stated that Malaysia may see a whopping 106,000 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, by 2040, unless immediate concrete steps are taken to change that trend.
On SKF, he said it is a non-profit organisation established in 1993 to raise awareness and educate the people about kidney health and prevention, to improve and extend as many lives as possible by providing subsidised and affordable dialysis treatment to kidney patients, as well as quality patient development services.
Currently, he said SKF has 80 registered kidney patients receiving treatment at the facility with a total of 28 units of dialysis machines in service, of which 12 units are haemodiafiltration (HDF)machines and 16 units are haemodialysis (HD) machines.
“In fact, I think we are the NGO centre with the most number of HDF machines throughout Malaysia.
“SKF recognised the advantages of HDF machines as early as 2012 and brought three units into service then, despite it being much more costly than a HD machine. And we are constantly upgrading our dialysis machines and facilities, in order to help more kidney patients better. “For 30 years, SKF has served and will always serve those who suffer from critical renal failure in our community. We will work closely with the authorities and communities to realise the objectives of making our region a better and healthier place,” Lau asserted.
