“Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is increasing in a pandemic proportion”, said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Director of Manipal Institute of Nephrology and Urology.
Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City N Achuta Rao was the chief guest and Bowling Coach, Indian Cricket Team and former cricketer Venkatesh Prasad along with TV host and Media Personality Deepak Thimaya were present at the programme. An exhibition to create awareness on diseases of kidney was organised.
World Kidney Day was observed in many hospitals across the City by conducting free kidney camps and awareness programmes.
The Organ Transplant Act should be amended and made more liberal, as such stringent rules would encourage more violations according to Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, at a an event organised by Rangadore Memorial Hospital at Shankarapuram.
Dr P Sriram, Chairman of The Bangalore Kidney Foundation (BKF) announced the launch of a Prevention Programme where the BKF would start screening initially 25,000 people in Shankarapuram, Visveswarapuram, Thyagarajanagar, Hanumanthnagar, etc.
Rose Mary, who has undergone 1,172 dialysis, was felicitated at the Rangadore Memorial Hospital (BKF). The BKF also announced that Rose Mary would receive free dialysis for one month apart from bringing her under the free dialysis programme.
Sponsorships
Several groups announced sponsorships for free dialysis. Confident Group announced that it was sponsoring 100 dialysis each month for one year. Bhagini Samaj and The Ladies Wing of the Jain Social Group announced sponsorship of 25 dialysis a month for one year. PRAY Foundation, an NGO announced that his Foundation will provide erythropoetin injections worth Rs 5,000 every month to patients undergoing dialysis. BGS Global Hospital too organised a three-day free kidney camp from Thursday.

FACT FILE

*Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects more than 500 million persons worldwide  – 10% of the adult population – has some form of kidney damage.
*90% of those who have CKD remain unidentified.
*Costs of kidney failure are escalating: worldwide, over 1.5 million people are currently kept alive through either dialysis or transplantation; this number is forecasted to double within next 10 years.
*Diabetes leads to a three-fold increase in the risk of developing kidney failure.
*High risk groups include persons with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, family history of diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease. 
*CKD can be detected early on and detection is easy. Simple, inexpensive tests of urine, blood and blood pressure can show early signs of kidney problems.