KUCHING: A 2018 study revealed that Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects 15.48 percent of Malaysian with around 50,000 patients undergoing dialysis treatment nationwide.
With a significant number of patients from the B40 and rural population, access to practical medical information is crucial for all kidney failure patients.
Now, people battling kidney failure and their caregivers can look forward to the easy access to comprehensive and accurate information, thanks to the launch of MYBuahPinggang.com website.
This educational portal will empower kidney failure patients and their care-givers to improve their daily care and quality of life, said National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia (NKF).
NKF said the portal would feature practical content on kidney diseases, treatment, dialysis, transplant and relevant issues such as Covid-19, anaemia as well as other developments which affect patients in the country.
The foundation said the Medical Tweet Association (#MedTweetMY) developed the website with the support from the team of Nephrologists from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Universiti Putra Malaysia.
NKF and AstraZeneca Malaysia jointly hosted the hybrid launch event at Sheraton Petaling Jaya Hotel, Selangor recently.
Present to officiate at the event was Health director-general Tan Sri Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Speaking at the official launch, NKF Malaysia chairman Datuk Dr Zaki Morad Mohd Zaher described the website as “very timely as patients can now stay safe at home and access all the information they need about the health of their kidneys via the website.”
“Congratulations to the Association of MedTweetMy Malaysia for developing this website.
“They worked tirelessly and have made this project a reality. In the growing age of misinformation, a credible website is crucial for patients to receive accurate information towards making well-informed decisions,” Dr Zaki said.
He said NKF would continue to support and work with the Malaysian Society of Nephrology and MoH, particularly to provide quality dialysis care to poor patients, jointly promote organ donation campaigns and carry out public education and awareness programmes to promote good care of kidneys.
In his speech, MoH head of Nephrology services Datuk Dr Ong Loke Meng expressed hope that the website would be a one-stop online information centre that members of the public will find useful to learn more about kidney health.
“We will continue to provide accurate facts and information to facilitate patients and their families in selecting the best possible treatment,” he said.
Also present at the website launch were MedTweetMY founder and chairman Dr Khairul Hafidz Alkhair, Malaysian Society of Nephrology president Prof Dr Abdul Halim Abdul Ghafor and AstraZeneca Malaysia’s Country president Dr Sanjeev Panchal.
The event also showcased the soft launch of NKF’s CODE: Life book ‘Masih Ada Yang Sayang’, a publication to promote organ donation and transplant in Malaysia.
The book launch comes soon after the CODE: Life Webinar in November centred on the theme ‘Living Kidney Transplant’.
More information on MYBuahPinggang is available at www.MYBuahPinggang.com and www.facebook.com/MYBuahPinggang
For further information on the CODE: Life book ‘Masih Ada Yang Sayang’ or to donate towards NKF’s efforts, visit www.nkf.org.my or call 03-7954 9048.
