Kidney disease diagnosis prog launched at schools

With an objective to create awareness among the students for prevention of Kidney diseases and also to run Kidney screening of school students, the Kidney Awareness, Monitoring and Prevention Society (KAMPS) and ICDF have jointly undertaken a countrywide school-based kidney disease detection and prevention programme.
Under the programme, KAMPS and ICDF, the non-profit voluntary organizations, organised a day-long kidney screening programme and as part of it held a discussion meeting styled "What to do for preventing Kidney Disease: Role of School/College Students" was also held at the National Bank Public School and College in the city's Moghbazar area on Sunday.
Kidney screening and other lab tests of more than 100 students and teachers were done in the daylong programme.
KAMPS Chairman and  Chief Consultant of Lab Aid Specialized Hospital, Prof. Dr. MA Samad presented keynote paper through power point presentation, highlighting the causes, remedies and preventive measures of the kidney diseases at the discussion meeting.
Prof. Samad also stressed on how the students of schools and colleges could play significant role in changing food habit and lifestyle and to lead a healthy life.   
"Children remain under constant threat of contracting the most harmful kidney disease as they are fond of junk food which is mostly adulterated with toxic chemicals that affect kidney", Dr. Samad said.
Professor Samad said the children, who are now students, should be targeted for screening and creating awareness among them because, if once they understand about the harmful impact of kidney disease they themselves will be careful  and motivate their other family members regarding prevention of this disease.
"Different study suggests that more than 20 million people in Bangladesh are somehow affected by Kidney disease. At least 5 persons die untimely death per hour in kidney disease", Dr Samad said adding that  those who have high blood pressure, diabetes and nephritis-they are under risk of catching kidney disease and more than 80 percent kidneys are damaged due to these three reasons.
He said repeated kidney infection, kidney stones, urinal obstruction, obesity, smoking, taking antibiotics and acute pain killers, leading idle life, crossing the age level of 40 are considered the reasons for catching renal diseases.
He urged the concerned persons, school management, local elites and public representatives to extend necessary cooperation in smooth running of the programme so that students and their guardians may come under the coverage.
Principal of National Bank Public School and College, Abu Zafar Md. Saleh presided over the ceremony while Chairman and CEO of ICDF, Mir Mosharef Hossain Ami, General Manager of KAMPS, SM Mahiuddin, senior teachers of the college were present on the occasion.
While addressing the function, ICDF chief said that KAMPS, ICDF have undertaken the programme with a great vision and will try their best to successfully implement the programme in most of the schools in city and elsewhere in the country in different phases.
Ami also said that under the programme KAMPS-ICDF will hold free medical and kidney screening camps and awareness raising campaign in 200 schools in Dhaka city initially while the programme will gradually be expanded to the remote villages of different districts across the country.
Principal Abu Zafar Md. Saleh in his address praised the role of KAMPS and felt that need for successful implementation of the KAMPS-ICDF school kidney program so that students may play significant role in serving their family members and also the society.