Patient says more awareness needed to prevent chronic kidney disease

By Lulu Mark
Healthy lifestyle choices, physical exercise and regular medical checks will help prevent chronic kidney disease, a patient says.
Loa Henao, who has been going to the PNG Kidney Foundation Dialysis dialysis centre since 2015, told The National that more awareness was needed to inform Papua New Guineans about the disease that has claimed a lot of lives although there were no reliable statistics.
The foundation is a non-government organisation that has been providing affordable and quality hemodialysis services since 2014.
Henao said he was diabetic and suffered hypertension so the choices made regarding what was consumed were important.
“The salt and sugar content of food from fast-food outlets cannot be known so it is important to have home-cooked meals for the good of your health,” Henao said.
“Never neglect outdoor activities and if you notice or feel anything abnormal, visit your doctor and get a thorough medical check.
“It is a very expensive exercise to keep surviving in PNG after your kidneys fail to function normally.
“I have to come here three times a week for the four-hour dialysis treatment. A session costs K150 which is much cheaper than what I pay at the private hospital. The injection EPO, which helps with the production of hemoglobin, costs K100. There are nutrients supplements I need to take in addition to a strict diet.”
Henao said transportation was a big challenge for him and since there was no bus service to the centre at Kennedy Estate in Port Moresby, he had to walk the three kilometre at times.
“It would be helpful if the government and business houses provided additional assistance,” Henao said.
The foundation has 14 regular patients at present.
Chief operating officer Khalik Untong said they had 12 dialysis machines which could take on a maximum of 72 patients.
He said the cost for dialysis per week was K750 but most patients could not afford it.
“So far we have done 3901 dialysis treatments,” Untong said. “We operate using money raised from fundraising initiatives.
“We encourage our patients to go for transplant and so far four have travelled to the Philippines and are now living normal lives.
It costs around K200,000 to go to the Philippines.”
Untong said they were there to help the people but unfortunately not many were able to access the service.