Every March, we pay special attention to the kidney, an organ vital to a healthy life. Social Security wants to help spread the word about the importance of kidney health and about what you should do if you think you or a loved one has a kidney-related disability.

Kidney disease prevents your kidneys from cleansing your blood to their full potential. Did you know that one out of three Americans is currently at high risk for developing kidney disease? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, and most of them don’t even know it.

Ebie is a prime example. Ebie was an emergency room worker with an active life at work, home and in his community. He had no idea he’d developed a kidney condition until one day he felt ill while driving to work and had to call a coworker for help.

Our Faces and Facts of Disability website features Ebie’s story. He says people who receive Social Security disability benefits “can provide for themselves and have a high quality of life.” As Ebie explains, many people with kidney diseases can greatly increase their quality of life with Social Security benefits. You can learn more about Ebie’s story at www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityfacts.

If a kidney disease such as end-stage renal disease (known as ESRD) requires chronic dialysis and prevents you from working, Social Security may be able to help you. If you’re undergoing dialysis, have had a kidney transplant, have persistent low creatinine clearance levels or have persistent high serum creatinine levels, you may qualify for disability and/or Medicare benefits.

You can find more information about eligibility based on kidney disease and the benefits available to you by reading our publications, “Disability Benefits” and “Medicare,” both available at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs.

Listed as one of Social Security’s Compassionate Allowance conditions, kidney cancer is another condition that may qualify you for disability and Medicare benefits. The Compassionate Allowances program assists in cases where a person’s medical condition is so severe it obviously meets Social Security’s disability standards — allowing quick processing of the disability application and payment of benefits. You can find more information about Compassionate Allowances by visiting our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.

Drink plenty of water, go for checkups, and if you think you may have a kidney disease, take action right away! As Ebie says, “quality of life is everything.”

If you think you may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits based on a kidney disease, please don’t wait. Go to www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityssi, where you can apply for benefits online.

Brenda Brown is a public affairs specialist for the Social Security Administration based in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

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The award is named in honour of the British physician who first described acute kidney failure in patients with crush syndrome during the 1941 London blitz. Dr Chugh has received this award in recognition of outstanding and sustained excellence of research in the field of acute kidney injury carried out over three decades.

The National Kidney Foundation of the US has considered Dr Chugh's contributions to the renal community in India as "most outstanding" and the International Society of Nephrology has included him amongst the first 50 legends in nephrology world over whose lifetime works have been recorded for the Video Legacy Project of the ISN. The award was presented to Dr Chugh during the World Congress of Nephrology held at Cape Town, South Africa, by Prof Giuseppe Remuzzi, president, International Society of Nephrology.

Dr Chugh is a world renowned nephrologist and is known as the father of nephrology in the country. He has made pioneering contribution to the development of nephrology in India and South-east Asia. He set up the first department of nephrology at PGI, Chandigarh, in 1963 and established the first nephrology training programme in 1969. He has trained and mentored several generations of nephrologists. He founded the Indian Society of Nephrology in 1970. Dr Chugh has made several original contributions in the field of tropical nephrology which have received national and international attention. The major area of research has focused on etiopathogenesis of acute kidney injury associated with diarrhoeal diseases, including HUS, malaria, obstetric accidents, snake bite and insect stings, G-6 P-D deficiency copper intoxication and rhabdomylosis.

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The District Government Hospital here is being upgraded with the government granting Rs. 21.75 crore for the purpose.

The hospital, spread over 50 acres of land of the total 110 acres granted, is adding 100 more beds and six more dialysis units for the patients suffering from kidney failure.

The preparation and increase in the facilities is done in order to meet the standards of the Medical Council of India (MCI) in case of the State government granting one government medical college here. It may be noted that the government has proposed to set up a government medical college in each district in the State, while Vijayapura is also under the list which may get one college soon.

Meanwhile elaborating on the project being taken up at the hospital, District Surgeon, R.M. Sajjan said that construction is underway to add 100 beds in maternity department as it presently has only 50 beds.

About the dialysis units, Dr. Sajjan said that over the period of time, the number of daily patients to undergo dialysis has gone to nearly 50.

“ Earlier, we had only six units, due to which, the patients were finding hard to get the dialysis done with limited machines, to help them out, six more are being installed,” he said.

Dr. Sajjan has informed that the hospital has sought accreditation from the National Accreditation of Board of Hospitals.

It is an autonomous body works under Quality Council of India, to assess the quality of medical care provided by the hospitals.

“NABH representatives are coming here in May for their preliminary assessment. If the hospital gets accreditation from NABH, it would become the first district hospital in the State to get that honor,” he said.

District Surgeon R.M. Sajjan has informed that with more facilities being added in the district hospital here, the hospital has sought accreditation from the National Accreditation of Board of Hospitals.

It is an autonomous body works under Quality Council of India, to assess the quality of medical care provided by the hospitals.

“NABH representatives are coming here in May for their preliminary assessment. If the hospital gets accreditation from NABH, it would become the first district hospital in the State to get that honor,” he said.

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