World Kidney Day observed with patients creating awareness

29-year-old Navneet's life had turned upside down when she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) almost six years ago.
Her studies had to be interrupted and she was initiated on regular dialysis.
Additonally, she unfortunately lost her hearing capacity as a side effect of the kidney failure and antibiotics.
She was fortunate to get a kidney from her grandfather when he learnt she had end-stage kidney disease and subsequently got well after the transplant and got married. Today, Navneet is a mother of a 3-year-old child.
Navneet was one among the 200 persons who gathered at the Max hospital here in Saket and shared their experiences on

'World Kidney Day'.

The programme was an endeavour to let people know about the amazing qualities of their kidneys and the role they play to ensure a healthy life.
"Chronic kidney disease is on the rise and assuming epidemic proportions. Mainly due to marked increase in the diabetic and hypertensive population in the country as well as because of the faulty food habits and sedentary lifestyle of general public.
"There is a strong need to wake up to the reality before it is too late," said Dr Dinesh Khullar, Director and Head of Department of Nephrology in Max Hospital.
Another patient who shared his experiences was M Dayal who was diagnosed with end stage kidney and was on dialysis with no suitable donor available in the family. She had lost all hope till he came to know about ABO incompatible transplation.

"His wife, whose blood group was B, could donate her kidney to Dayal whose blood group was O. It could be done after successful removal of anti-bodies against blood group B in Dayal's blood," said Dr Khullar.
Dr Khullar said swap donation was another way to expand the donor pool for transplantation.
"We are trying to improve the donor pool through legal means of swap kidney donations whereby if a donor's blood group doesn't match with that of his relative patient, then this organ can be swapped with that of another family facing the opposite problem which can also be explained as breaking the barrier of ABO incompatibility through newer transplant tactics," said Khuller.