Kidney patients on the rise

Bridgetown.

Kidney disease in Barbados has increased at a phenomenal rate in the past 12 years says chief executive officer of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Dr Dexter James.

According to James, admissions to the hospital renal unit had grown by over 133 percent over the past 12 years. He warned that if this trend continued there would be 400 patients who would require dialysis treament by the year 2020.

James thinks that Government should enact legislation to allow dialysis patients to access kidneys from cadavers.

He said 20 percent of haemodialysis patients were prime candidates for transplantations.