By: Rebecca Sedinam Affor
Speaking on the GTV Breakfast Show, Dr. Beatrice Irene Nyann –Paediatric Nephrologist Ghana Kidney Association of University of Ghana Medical Center.
In her submission, she said though the kidney is 12cm in size, it is a vital and the busiest organ in the body despite the size.
“It gets rid of excess fluid and also balances fluid in the body through urine, it removes metabolic and toxic materials harmful to the body, also produces some hormones which produces blood vessels and controlling of our blood pressure and also balance the amount of acid the body produces through the intake of food”.
She elaborated that there are no symptoms and signs to detect one has an unhealthy kidney unless one is tested.
But some symptoms maybe be obvious when one has a “ puffy face, swollen eyes, looking pale, high blood pressure, fatigue and reduction in urine production” she said. She mentions there are two types of kidney disease, acute and chronic. She further stated that it is acute when it is within three months and it is reversible but chronic after three months and it has come to stay. When asked about the rate of chronic kidney disease in Ghana.
“For chronic in Ghana now is increasing at an alarming rate, it is scary she said”.
She mentioned lifestyle and smoking as the major cause of the increase in kidney disease. She encourages everyone to drink a lot of water to keep the kidney smiling and healthy to prevent kidney diseases.
