Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
A Pediatrician with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr. Eugene Martey has expressed worry over the increasing spate of kidney cases among children in the country.
This, he attributed to ignorance and myths surrounding the condition where parents link the diseases to operations of demons and curses.
Dr. Martey suggested to government to put in place measures to help treat kidney conditions, saying the treatment are both expensive and out of the reach of patients.
‘In children kidney diseases are not farfetched, what we have realised in KATH is almost every week we get one child coming in with completely damaged kidney, and every other day one child coming in with one form of kidney injury; if you look at that statistics, we are looking at 50 cases of kidney diseases in children every year, and about 150 cases of kidney injuries, which is alarming,’ he stated.
He lamented that cases are reported late, saying, by the time parents and their kids visit KATH for treatment; they may have tried different herbs, drugs and different centers for treatment.
Ghana today joins the rest of the world to mark world kidney with a focus on children.
Ten percent of the world population is documented to be living with kidney-related conditions.
The theme for today’s advocacy is under the theme ‘Kidney Disease and Children; Act Early to Prevent It!”.
The day is to draw attention to inborn and acquired disorders of the kidney in children.
