Special days always remind us special people in society. Marking the World Kidney Day (WKD), about 50 dialysis patients received the first dose of anti-Covid vaccine free at a private hospital in the city, an official said on Thursday.
“The 50 patients, undergoing dialysis at our 3 centres in the city, received the vaccination free. Of them, 36 are men and 14 women in the above 50 years age group,” a Manipal Hospitals spokesman told.
As kidney patients face the risk of being infected by Coronavirus due to their medical condition and low immunity, they were given the jab for protection and spread awareness on the importance of getting vaccinated early.
The patients did not have side-effects after the first dose.
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“With the pandemic outbreak, kidney patients faced the fear and burden of contracting Covid-19 while balancing their treatment plans. We hope to ease their lives by taking the first step to protect them from the virus,” said Manipal Hospitals chairman Sudarshan Ballal on the occasion.
The ‘World Kidney Day’ is celebrated every year on the second Thursday of March as a health awareness campaign jointly by the International Society of Nephrology and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations.
The first WKD was observed in 2006, with 66 countries participating and their number has gone up to 88 till 2020.
“The WKD is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of kidneys and kidney-related diseases to reduce the frequency and impact of such ailments worldwide,” said the world kidney day organisation.
As each year a theme is decided for the day to focus on various aspects of the organ, the theme for this year is ‘Living Well with Kidney Disease’.
This year’s theme empowers kidney patients and their families to help them deal with the trauma.
According to the National Health Portal of India, one in 10 people is affected by a kidney disease, taking their tally to 850 million the world over.
Around 1.7 million people are estimated to die every year due to acute kidney injury (AKI) globally.
“Chronic kidney diseases are silent killers. Under the PM National Dialysis Programme, we are ensuring accessible and affordable dialysis services for everyone,” tweeted Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
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