Cautioning those above 40 years against the risk of kidney diseases, Georgi Abraham, consultant Nephrologist, Madras Medical Mission has said that people above the age of 40 should go for a kidney check up, especially if they are diabetic and a BP patient. The doctor appreciated the efforts of Lakshmi Anandan, founder of Sai T P Karunanandan Trust, who inaugurated a dialysis machine at a function here on Wednesday.
He appealed to people to undergo checkups, which were available at cheaper rate, even at the cost of Rs 100 at the TamilNad Kidney Research (TANKER) Foundation.
TANKER, a non-profit charitable organisation that was started in 1993, helps the underprivileged kidney patients by giving subsidised dialysis and financial help for medication, investigation and treatment.
They have treated nearly 1.3 lakh patients so far, in which 80 per cent of them have been treated for free under the Chief Ministers Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.
“As we know that the dialysis machine costs nearly Rs six lakh that is where donors like Sai T P Karunanandan Trust come in which has donated one dialysis machine to the patient of TANKER foundation,” said Abraham.
He added that nearly 17 per cent of kidney diseases went undiagnosed and people ended up suffering at the later stages. According to the doctor, in India every year, almost 2.5 lakh people die of kidney failure, which is the third largest killer after malignancy and heart disease.