Professional dancer Lourd Vijay first knew he had kidney disease in November 2013. After two and a half years of dialysis, he finally got a kidney transplant through Karnataka’s organ transplant programme. And now, the 41-year-old is embarking on a 9,500 km journey to spread awareness of the importance of organ donation.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr. Vijay said that in his trip, called ‘Spreading Hope’, he would cover 13 cities, 17 towns and 18 villages. “I want to sensitise families and help enrol more ambassadors for organ donation,” he said. His trip is being principally supported by DaVita, a dialysis provider, and also by TANKER Foundation and MOHAN Foundation.
One in 10 adults in the country has the risk of contracting kidney disease in their lifetime, said Suresh Shankar, chief medical officer, DaVita Care.
Senior nephrologist M.S. Amarshan, spoke about the need to prevent kidney disease.
“Diabetes and hypertension form two-thirds of the causes of end-stage kidney disease,” he said, highlighting the importance of a healthy diet and exercise.
P. Soundararajan, head of nephrology, Saveetha Medical College, said school health screening programmes needed to be implemented to test for kidney disease. “Obesity too is a risk factor now,” he said.
Latha Kumaraswami of TANKER Foundation, which provides free and subsidised dialysis to those in need, spoke of the organisation’s awareness programmes.
‘Huge gap’
Sunil Shroff, managing trustee of MOHAN Foundation that promotes organ donation and transplants, said that despite the rise in organ donations, a huge gap still remained.
Member secretary, Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu P. Balaji, said the State government was, through its programme, ensuring that no organ was wasted. “Awareness programmes such as these are very important,” he said.
Mr. Vijay’s journey was flagged off on Monday. His first stop is Bangalore, followed by Pune.