THEY would come in shirts printed with national kidney disease control program logo and they might ask you some questions about your awareness with the kidneys and the diseases leading to its total wasting.

Don’t be surprised. These guys are from the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) and the Philippine Information Agency conducting a survey to determine baseline data on the people’s awareness on kidney and the diseases than can lead to the fatal end-stage-renal disease (ESRD).

The survey results would determine government policies on the national kidney disease control and its awareness program, say program consultant Minda Quitoriano during a survey conduct briefing in Cebu recently.

For quite a long time people have disregarded their kidneys until regional health authorities realized kidney disease has climbed to one of the region’s top ten killers, revealed Dr. Jocelyn Abellana.

With Bohol identified as one of the pilot sites for the baseline information data source, the team comes to Tagbilaran city’s five districts to generate responses on basic kidney functions and the disease.

Kidney disease is said to be one of the most expensive diseases in the country, especially when a disease had degenerated into ESRD.

Human kidneys do the crucial job of filtering the blood to separate the usable nutrients to re-circulate it to the body and the toxins it has to for excretion.

A failed kidney is fatal in as much as a toxins unfiltered in the blood can poison the body.

In this case, a palliative solution would be the hemodialysis, which puts a machine doing the temporary role of the kidney and filter the blood.

A kidney patient in dialysis however needs to go through the process thrice a week to survive.

The longer solution is the expensive kidney transplant, which may cost millions, one that would have top be complemented with lifetime medications.

Its easy, Quitoriano stresses. A string kidney disease advocacy may mean a better and more lasting program where people are taught how to care for their kidneys.

The survey, she said would provide the necessary data, which could be the basis for a national program to spread the preventive steps to keep one’s kidneys healthy. (PIA)