Health Minister, Dr. Duane Sands, has revealed that in the last five years, more patients have been added to the list of Bahamians suffering renal failure. 

This Non-Communicable Disease (NDC), Dr. Sands said, is just one of many, as the over indulgence of sweets, salty, fatty, processed and fermented foods,  landed The Bahamas in a leading position in many of the known NDC’s risk factor. 

“To illustrate how things have progressed in just a five -year window, the number of Bahamians with end stage renal disease has increased by a whopping 33 percent -from approximately 400 in 2012, to at least 600 in 2018,” Dr. Sands said. 

“Many believe these numbers to be on the conservative side,” he said.

Couple with the increase of dialysis patients, Dr. Sands added that the cost of treatment is in the millions of dollars. 

“For these patients, the public purse is taxed an estimated $25 million each year to provide dialysis treatment, and this is just a small fraction of our health expenditure.

“NDC’s as a whole demand the lion share of our national health budget annually in providing medications, health and rehabilitation services. 

Dr. Sands added NCD’s not only carry a financial burden, but a physical and emotional one as well. 

“Equally as important, are the social costs borne by NCD’s such as reduced productivity, loss of wages, and disability, along with the strain and stress on family support systems. 

“Without doubt, NCD’s are a scourge that does not discriminate. 

“We can all feel, see and touch what is left in its aftermath because it affects the people we know and love,” Dr. Sands said.