World Kidney Day: Medical expert cautions against smoking, herbal drinks

A medical expert, Dr Unyime Ndor, of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom State, has cautioned against excessive drinking of beer, hot drinks and herbal concoctions.

He also discouraged continuous smoking of cigarettes, hard drugs and other substances.

The medical practitioner equally discouraged those described as ‘passive smokers’ from continued closeness with active smokers.

He said even though they do not smoke directly yet they, too, are vulnerable to assorted ailments as a result of effects of cigarettes smoking.

Ndor was a guest of a vernacular programme on Tangsio Radio where he enlightened on importance of liver and kidney and why they must be cared for by avoiding certain foods, drinks and exposure.

World Kidney Day is a global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.

It is observed annually on the 2nd Thursday in March.

The medical expert advised that victims and non-victims should regularly check the state of their kidneys to avoid impairments.

Disclosing ways to avoid kidney diseases, he advised: “I want to strongly discourage addiction to drinking beers, hot drinks as well as herbal mixtures.

“These have strong and dangerous effects on the kidneys.

“I also encourage diabetics to regularly visit their doctors. This is because causes of diabetes, including sugar, graduate to impact the kidney.

“Don’t go to patent medicine dealers to mix drugs for you as these impact the kidney, too. Rather make it a habit to get prescriptions from medical doctors for you to buy the right drugs from Pharmacists.”

He enlightened that Kidney is a very important organ in the human body, which helps to shift unwanted materials from foods.

He warned that the cost of using dialysis machines to treat kidney disease is very expensive, even as the disease is hardly cured.

He mentioned that some of the symptoms that indicate kidney disease is that one’s urine would be foamy persistently.

“Another sign is that the victim would be swelling.”