Malaysian patients spend RM700mil on kidney dialysis yearly

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: End-stage kidney failure treatment requiring dialysis is costing Malaysian taxpayers as well as the individuals involved more than RM700mil a year.
Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said most of the 23,000 cases involving kidney failure could have been prevented if people take care of their health and doctors identify high-risk patients early.
“The prevalence of kidney disease is 15% and that means 4.1 million Malaysians are likely to have the disease.
“The cost of kidney dialysis is RM33,000 a year per patient,” he said after launching the first Clinical Practice Guidelines on Management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Adults yesterday.
Dr Hasan said those with the disease may not have obvious symptoms and sometimes detection came too late.
Earlier, he told medical personnel to know the number of patients to expect and identify them.
He said that those with hypertension and diabetes, for instance, need not suffer from kidney damage if they detect their condition early and get treated.
Dr Hasan said RM3mil would be spent on training doctors on the new guidelines next year.
National Nephrology Services head Datuk Dr Ghazali Ahmad said RM760mil was spent a year on dialysis.
He also said that the amount did not include medicine costs borne by patients.
“More than 14,000 patients need kidney transplants and some have gone out of the country to source for kidneys and this has led to Malaysians being accused of being involved in human trafficking,” he said.
Dr Ghazali said that another RM50mil was spent on medication after transplantation.
He also said more medical personnel were needed to treat kidney patients each year.