PUTRAJAYA: A pre-dialysis education programme specifically for stage 4 and 5 chronic kidney patients will be introduced in all government health facilities nationwide beginning next year, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the special module would be implemented comprehensively once the Ministry of Health (MOH) had obtained the best model through data and research.

"For a start, this programme will be commenced in Pahang before being implemented in Kelantan and Terengganu," he said during his speech at the launch of the Kidney Ambassador and Pre-Dialysis Education Programme organised by the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia (NKF) here today.

Khairy said the programme, developed by a group of medical experts, was expected to provide important information to the patients as well as help them choose the appropriate type of treatment.

"Health education activities like this are among the ways we (MOH) empower the public, patients and family members to be more responsible for their own health," said Khairy, who was also appointed as a Kidney Ambassador.

He said the ministry's evaluation of the programme done abroad in 2020 had found that it was effective in increasing the knowledge of patients and family members, improving kidney transplants and helping patients choose dialysis treatment at home, namely peritoneal dialysis or conservative treatment (without dialysis).

Apart from the programme, Khairy said the MOH had launched the website www.mybuahpinggang.com on Dec 27, 2020, and the 'MYBuahPinggang' Facebook page on Aug 18, 2019, as a medium for sharing and delivering accurate information on kidney disease and treatment methods.

Sharing the latest data from the 'Malaysia Dialysis and Transplantation Registry', Khairy said there were 49,111 kidney patients undergoing dialysis treatment either by haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

He said there were 8,000 new kidney patients diagnosed within a year in the country.

"The data also shows that there are currently 4,722 kidney patients waiting for a transplant," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the ministry was also looking into developing a mechanism to identify potential cases as organ donors among brain death patients.

"I will engage with specialist doctors, especially those who work in the Intensive Care Unit to see the improvement measures that we can come up with together," he added.

-- BERNAMA