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Arra Perez

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — An official of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) expressed alarm as she observed a 40-percent increase in new dialysis patients in a span of a year.Dr. Romina Danguilan, NKTI&#x27;s Deputy Executive Director for Medical Services, said the specialty center caters to a yearly estimate of 35,000 out-patients and 27,000 in-patients – 80 percent of which have kidney diseases.&quot;Now if you look at the number of patients who are going on dialysis, it&#x27;s even higher. So these are patients already who have kidney failure. Between 2022 and 2023, there was about a 40-percent increase in the number of new patients starting dialysis, which is very, very alarming,&quot; she told ABS-CBN News.&quot;The number of patients on dialysis right now is about 60,000. So nagiging malaking burden sa ating (which is becoming a significant burden on our) health care system. So if we can recognize the disease earlier and treat it, then we can decrease the number of patients going into kidney failure,&quot; she added.Danguilan attributes the increasing number to more awareness of the disease and the current lifestyle of Filipinos.&quot;The most common causes of kidney failure now are: number one, diabetes; number two, hypertension; and number three is inflammation of the kidneys or glomerulonephritis. So chances are families, if they&#x27;re all diabetic, then they will be in some stage of kidney disease,&quot; she explained.&quot;Diabetes is a lifestyle disease also. Eating too many sweets. Filipinos, we like sweet food so that&#x27;s not really very good, by not being very careful with our diet. Sometimes also we like very salty food. Minsan nakaka-high blood din iyon (That can also cause high blood). Again, that&#x27;s a lifestyle. Also, we&#x27;ve become very sedentary. Hindi na tayo masyadong gumagalaw, sa office lang tayo (We don&#x27;t move that much, spending most of our time in the office). We don&#x27;t devote time to exercise,&quot; she added.<div>IMPROVING GOV&#x27;T BENEFITS</div>Danguilan welcomes PhilHealth&#x27;s study on the possibility of doubling its coverage for hemodialysis to P5,200 per session from the current P2,600 per session, covering 156 sessions annually.The state insurer also plans to improve its &quot;Z Benefits&quot; for kidney transplant, which is currently at P600,000.If the enhanced benefits will push through, post-medication for the transplant will also be covered.&quot;We&#x27;re very happy about that... Now their hemodialysis treatment is given already three times a week for the entire year which is adequate dialysis. So mas magtatagal ang buhay nila and mas magaan sa bulsa kasi covered na (So their lives will be prolonged and it will be easier on their pockets because it&#x27;s covered)...  Sa kidney transplant which is the best treatment for kidney failure because you have a new kidney... The benefit is going to be improved by PhilHealth... as soon as they can do that, it&#x27;s better,&quot; Danguilan said.Chronic kidney disease patient Victor Curitana also welcomes the move.Curitana has been undergoing dialysis for the past 10 years.He shared that he doesn&#x27;t mind the physical pain or the long travel from Montalban, Rizal to Quezon City.To him, what&#x27;s important is the financial capacity for the treatment.&quot;Wala na po trabaho... Kailangan ko lumapit po sa mga politiko para makahingi po ng guarantee letter… masuportahan iyong gamutan... Malaking tulong po iyong... sa PhilHealth... para humaba po iyong buhay po namin,&quot; he said.(I no longer have a job, so I need to ask politicians for a guarantee letter to support my treatment. The help from PhilHealth is a big aid in extending our lives.)While he waits for a kidney donor, Curitana continues to do his best to fulfill all the procedures and checkups.&quot;Kailangan kumpleto... iyong injection, iyong maintenance... Kung hindi po namin mapunan iyon, apektado po iyong katawan namin. Masama ang pakiramdam namin. Kailangan talaga masuportahan... Malaking bagay po iyon sa amin,&quot; he said.(The injections and maintenance need to be complete. If we can&#x27;t meet those needs, our bodies are affected, and we feel unwell. It is crucial to have support, as it means a lot to us.)<div>ADVANCEMENTS, PREVENTION</div>The NKTI has also been pushing for improved benefits for peritoneal dialysis, which is another type of dialysis.&quot;Naglalagay tayo ng special solution inside the abdomen. It&#x27;s a home treatment type of dialysis, so we train the patients and they do the peritoneal dialysis at home. So medyo naiiwan siya sa ating improvement in benefits,&quot; Danguilan said.(We put a special solution inside the abdomen. It&#x27;s a home treatment type of dialysis, so we train the patients and they do the peritoneal dialysis at home. So it&#x27;s quite being left behind in the improvement in benefits.)&quot;But we&#x27;ve already written PhilHealth. They&#x27;re already studying it very carefully and, hopefully, ma-enhance din ang benefits sa ating mga pasyenteng naka-peritoneal dialysis (benefits of those patients who are going through peritoneal dialysis will also be enhanced).”She also recognized factors as to why those who actually go through kidney transplants are limited.&quot;One is age. So if you&#x27;re very senior, you may have a lot of comorbidities. Medyo baka may sakit sa puso na sila. So kailangan kasi ma-clear sila ng ating cardiologist that they can undergo a major operation, and so minsan that&#x27;s a problem (They need to be cleared by the cardiologist that they can undergo a major operation and sometimes that&#x27;s a problem). So the earlier, the younger the patient, we want to encourage them already to get a transplant.”&quot;And then sometimes, they don&#x27;t have a donor. So that is really the number one cause for our patients not getting a transplant. And, of course, the financial burden because of the anti-rejection medicines.”With advancements in technology, Danguilan explained that &quot;there are very good drugs now&quot; being given to kidney patients.&quot;[There are] new drugs that have come out very recently, and they are very effective in slowing iyong pagkasira ng ating mga bato (damage to our kidney). So we can give it even if the patient is already in Stage 4 kidney disease and they&#x27;re still effective.”&quot;In fact, they can delay the need for dialysis by nine years. So it&#x27;s a very good assistance to the patient, gives our patients hope that with medicines, blood pressure control, control of their blood sugar, and a healthy lifestyle, napo-prolong ang buhay nila at nade-delay ang pag need nila na mag-dialysis (their life is prolonged, and the need for dialysis is delayed).&quot;To prevent kidney disease, doctors advise the public to make it a habit to drink water, avoid salty food, and know if they have hypertension or diabetes, which are considered at high risk to get kidney problems.

An official of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) expressed alarm as she observed a 40-percent increase in new dialysis patients in a span of a year.

An official of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) expressed alarm as she observed a 40-percent increase in new dialysis patients in a span of a year.

NKTI official alarmed by 40% rise in new dialysis patients

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NKTI official alarmed by 40% rise in new dialysis patients

Arra Perez,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 30, 2024 08:52 PM PHT

Read More:

NKTI

kidney disease

PhilHealth

dialysis

kidney transplant

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