About 1.2 million Filipinos today are suffering from kidney diseases, requiring either dialysis or a kidney transplant for them to live. Among the leading causes of kidney failure in the country are diabetes (41%), inflammation of the kidney (24%) and high blood pressure (22%).
According to the Department of Health, kidney disease is now one of the top ten causes of death among Filipinos wherein 7,000 die annually due to kidney malfunction. Because of the increasing number of Filipinos with kidney disease, it is now considered among the top seven health problems in the country.
Worldwide, there is also an alarming level of kidney disease with more than 500 million persons suffering from some form of kidney damage. Over 1.5 million of them are kept alive either through dialysis or transplantation. Every year, over 12 million individuals die prematurely of cardiovascular diseases linked to chronic kidney disease.
Costly treatment
In the Philippines, the treatment of kidney diseases is very costly and unaffordable.
Dialysis treatment uses artificial devices to perform the function of the kidney at about 15%, which is enough to sustain life but needs to be performed adequately on a regular basis (2-3 times a week) for life. Patients without sufficient dialysis are weak and show many of the symptoms that led to their diagnosis. Malnourished and unable to work, they tend to survive only until the next dialysis treatment. A patient has to spend P25,000 to P46,000 a month or P300,000 to P552,000 a year for his or her dialysis. Maintenance medication costs about P20,000 a month.
Kidney transplantation offers the best option for patients with kidney failure as shown by foreign and local studies, according to Romina Angangco Danguilan, chair of the NKTI’s Department of Adult Nephrology. In her study, she noted that the quality of life of a transplant patient is superior to one on dialysis. Kidney transplantation cost ranges from P500,000 to a million. Post-operation medication costs about P12,000 a month.
Because treatment is very expensive and draining to the pocket, it was reported that in 2007, only 73% of Filipino patients with kidney failure were able to afford necessary treatment.
No government support
Patients with PhilHealth coverage can only claim half of the cost of their treatment and cash out for the remaining cost. According to National Kidney Transplant Institute, only 15% of the partially-subsidized patients are PhilHealth members.
Poor kidney patients survive through assistance and borrowings from relatives and friends. Many of them had to beg around for funds from politicians and charitable organizations to pay for their treatment. Even patients who can afford admit that the burden of their treatment cost is heavily draining their families’ resources.
Dr. Lyn Almazan-Gomez, former president of the Philippine Society of Nephrologists said that there is no “free treatment” for kidney diseases. “It would be very draining for the government to shoulder treatment costs for renal patients considering the amount involved,” said Dr. Remedios De Belen-Uriarte, Department Manager of the Renal Disease Control Program of the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI). She said that with limited income and resources, even NKTI can hardly afford to expand its services.
The NKTI is the government’s specialty health facility for kidney transplant and kidney-related diseases. In its out-patient hemodialysis unit, about two-thirds of the patients are pay patients who are able to afford the full amount of treatment costs and are given priority in the dialysis treatments. Only one-third of the patients are relatively poor service patients who avail of the discounts on hospital fees and charges given by the social services section but would have to wait for days to acquire a slot in the dialysis treatment. Regularity of dialysis treatment is very crucial for kidney patients because delay in such treatments would mean danger and may call for more expensive emergency procedures if not attended to immediately.
In 2007, NKTI records showed that of the 336 patients who were given transplantation procedures, 231 or 69% were pay patients and only 105 or 31% were service patients.
Prevention is best move
Prevention is the best move to counter the worsening problem on kidney disease in the country.
Kidney diseases are preventable, according to Dr. Uriarte. She emphasized the importance of early recognition of the causes to prevent or delay the development of kidney problems that usually end to kidney failure. That is why the REDCOP or Renal Disease Control Program under the NKTI, gives emphasis to the prevention aspect of controlling the spread of kidney diseases, according to Dr. Uriarte.
Playing a major role in the prevention of renal diseases, of course, is having a healthy lifestyle, which includes proper nutrition, regular exercise and timely physical check up.
The government appears to be giving less attention to combat the kidney disease problem. The Department of Health has no specific program to address this. Dr. Uriarte pointed out that no single centavo is given by the government in the campaign against renal diseases. She said that REDCOP depends on the funds that NKTI allocates to the program from the institution’s income.
Dr. Eleanor A. Jara, Executive Director of Council for Health and Development (CHD) said that it is the responsibility of the government to decisively exert the effort to address the worsening problem on renal diseases in the country given the prevailing economic difficulties confronting poor Filipinos these days.
Much more with the prevailing economic difficulties, the government must prioritize people’s health. This means increasing the share of health in the national budget from the less than one percent at present to as much as five percent of the country’s total production following the World Health Organization’s prescription. It also means unburdening the people in paying onerous debts incurred by the government and decreasing the budget for huge military spending.
Sources:
info@worldkidneyday.org
www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2003/12/13;
sree1010.wordpress.com/2009/02/04;
abs-cbnnews.com/07/29/2008;
www.positivenewsmedia.net/.../Gov;
PIA Press Release, 12-04-2008; REDCOP/NKTI
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