Sunyani, Oct. 06, GNA – The Reverend Father Dr. Lawrence Gyamfi, a patient diagnosed of renal failure, has advised Ghanaians to either avoid or reduce the consumption of food with high preservatives, artificial colouring and taste.
According to him, people who failed to heed the warning did so at their own risk, saying high intake of such food and junks exposed consumers to renal dysfunction or failure.
“Take your time and read carefully the ingredients of every packaged food before you buy. Most of them are very harmful.
“If a product is labeled as having a taste of a particular fruit it means it is not that fruit, rather chemicals have been added up to arrive at that taste,” he stated.
Rev Fr. Dr. Gyamfi, a Catholic Priest of the Obuasi Diocese in the Ashanti Region, based in Udine, Italy gave the advice when he shared his experiences in a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He said he was diagnosed and put on dialysis in 2016, saying renal failure remained an extreme health condition which is sometimes difficult and painful for patients to contain or live with the reactions.
Some of the reactions include poor appetite, loss of weight, swollen feet and tiredness, swollen eye bags, shortness of breath, tiredness, blood in urine and in some cases no urine at all and insomnia.
With all these difficulties, pains and discomforts, Rev Fr. Dr. Gyamfi lamented that a patient would die after a short while, if he or she did not have a kidney transplant or dialysis.
He expressed concern about the high cost of accessing dialysis in the country, and therefore, appealed to the government to subsidize the import duties on the medicines, and accessories needed for dialysis, for all patients to afford treatment.
Rev Fr. Dr. Gyamfi said uncontrolled diabetes, high blood pressure, acute kidney injuries and many bad habits including alcoholism, drug abuse, smoking and abuse of painkillers were other identifiable causes of renal failures.
He also advised against the use of unprescribed antibiotics and bad eating habits too.
GNA