BANGALORE: Several hospitals organised a number of programmes to mark the World Kidney Day on Thursday and created awareness on kidney diseases and kidney donation among the masses.
Focusing on the positive outcome of the kidney transplantation and the life-saving aspect of organ donation, Manipal Hospital launched a campaign based on the international slogan of “Donate - Kidneys for Life - Receive”. The campaign was inaugurated by well-known filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department E V Ramana Reddy and Vice-chancellor of NIMHANS Dr P Satish Chandra.
Speaking on the occasiom, Girish Kasarvalli said, “Donating organs is a life giving initiative. I urge people to pledge their organs to save the lives of unfortunate people. We need to proactively educate the people on the benefits of organ donations.”
Medical Director of Manipal Health Enterprises Dr H Sudarshan Ballal said, “It is estimated that, every year about 200,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure. It’s unfortunate that due to the non-availability of organs, only about 2,500 kidney transplants are done annually.”
Awareness Programme: St John’s Hospital organised an awareness programme on ‘Chronic Kidney Disease Management and Treatment Modalities with Emphasis on Renal Transplantation’. The hospital organised a patient and caregivers’ meet to discuss the growing incidences of kidney ailments in India, its detection and management. More than 100 patients and caregivers attended the programme. The hospital also honoured the families of deceased donors. The event had 80 voluntary donors.