LAHORE: The Nephrology department of Fatima Memorial Hospital held a free kidney camp and walk on Thursday to coincide with World Kidney Day to create awareness among the general public on the importance of kidneys to overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems.
The Nutrition department of Fatima Memorial Hospital was also present at the camp to assess the nutritional requirements of a patient as per their dietary needs.
The camp was attended by 150 patients, 45 percent of which were females. All the patients were clinically diagnosed and given free consultation by specialists in the field. The number of patients suffering from kidney diseases has been consistently growing at an alarming rate; according to WHO Pakistan has the second highest rate of chronic infections and almost 8.6 million Pakistanis are affected with Hepatitis C. Malnutrition and inadequate dialysis appear to be the major reasons of mortality amongst patients suffering from Hepatitis B & C in Pakistan.
To meet the growing needs of the patients, Fatima Memorial Hospital launched a state of the art dialysis centre providing Heamo-dialysis to patients suffering from kidney diseases in 2004. For quality control, the international standards of sterilization for this treatment are maintained at FMH and the instruments used in this department are fully sterilized and machines are disinfected as per the requirements. The staff cut and discards every tube and all material after every patient dialysisto ensure safe, healthy and protective treatment.
Most of the patients are dialyzed thrice weekly which takes around 8 hours per week and certain dialysis machines have been dedicated exclusively for Hepatitis C patients. An average of 7,000 dialysis is done annually at FMH out of which 50 percent are either free of cost or at subsidized rates. The treatment is expensive thus not affordable by most of the patients and the costs are borne by the hospital directly and through the generosity of philanthropists.
Fatima Memorial Hospital, a not for profit hospital was founded in 1977 in Shadman, Lahore with the mission to provide quality service without discrimination to patients from all walks of life.
