300 on dialysis

Article by Sheria Brathwaite

KIDNEY DISEASE has now been described as an epidemic in Barbados, but plans are afoot to address the situation.

Consultant nephrologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Nerissa Jurawan, said she was deeply concerned there were about 300 patients on dialysis treatment between two and three times per week at the Martindale’s Road, St Michael facility.

She revealed that people as young as 25 years old were on dialysis.

“For the size of the population, 300 patients is a lot,” she told the Daily Nation, shortly after the QEH Kidney Unit accepted a donation from the British Women’s Club of Barbados of two i-STAT Creatinine test machines designed to enable early detection of kidney disease. (SB)

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