16-year-old girl among dialysis pa ents
MAA Medicare Charity Dialysis Centres have seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of pa ents receiving dialysis treatment in Sabah this year, and among them is a 16-year-old girl.
KOTA KINABALU: MAA Medicare Charity Dialysis Centres have seen 20 per cent increase in the number of patients receiving dialysis treatment this year.
MAA Medicare Charitable Foundation Board of Trustees member Tan Sri Datuk Ibrahim Menudin said the increase was based on statistics released by MAA.
He said the increase included the number of young patients who needed dialysis treatment.
“A lot of people are diabetic, so the people who get dialysis treatments are increasing.
“People who are diabetic and undergo dialysis are usually older ones but now even youngsters get it. This trend (youngsters undergo dialysis treatment) is not only in Sabah but nationwide.
“If the number is increasing, we might not be able to cope with it, so we are trying to increase our facilities.
“We do not know the reason behind this increment. So my advice is for the people to take care of their food consumption and health.
“It is shocking to me to see a 16-year-old girl needing dialysis treatment. She is young,” he said when met at Fun Day Out at Petroscience Playsmart in Luyang here yesterday.
Meanwhile, MAA Medicare Charitable Foundation CEO Dato Aliyah Karen said the number of dialysis patients had significantly increased in Sabah and Sarawak.
She said dialysis centres in Kota Kinabalu last year provided dialysis treatments to 50 patients while this year the centres were seeing 70 patients.
“Government hospitals could not cope (with the number of dialysis patients) and keep sending (the patients) to us.
“We receive patients who are unable to pay for the dialysis treatment and we subsidize them,” she said.
Aliyah also said about 30% of dialysis patients at MAA Medicare centres were those aged between 36 and 50 and was sad to see more younger patients appearing.
At the event, 21 school-going kidney patients from the Peter Mole - MAA Medicare Charity Dialysis Centre (KK Centre) had a fun-filled outing.
Besides playing games and gaining extra knowledge on how science plays a role in everyday lives, the children also received a back-to-school kit consisting of school uniforms, colour pencils, stationery set, notebooks and schoolbags.
Ibrahim distributed the school goodies to the children.
“MAA Medicare will continue its commitment to provide assistance to our patients and we look forward to the continuous support from our generous sponsors and donors. This year we thank Matari Uniforms and McDonald’s for the school uniforms and bags,” he added.
The Back-to-School program is part of the annual Kids@ Medicare activities.
Kids@Medicare and Patients’ Welfare Fund (PWF) are two initiatives aimed at easing the financial burden of kidney patients.
The KK Centre, which is part of the MAA Medicare Kidney Charity Fund, was the first centre to have organized the Kids@Medicare program in 2007 and has held it annually ever since.
It currently operates three shifts a day and cares for 70 patients between the ages of 16 to 87, with most of the patients coming from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The MAA Medicare Kidney Charity Fund is the second largest non-profit dialysis centre in Malaysia and provides highly subsidized treatment and care for 830 patients at its 12 centres nationwide.
MAA Medicare Charitable Foundation had also launched the MAA Medicare Heart Charity Fund in 2014 and will be opening the first charitable cardiac diagnostic and treatment centre in Malaysia in early 2018.
It is aimed at providing affordable treatment for underprivileged Malaysians as well as educating the public on healthy lifestyles to mitigate the risk of potential cardiovascular problems.