Category: News

Prof John Cunningham at CardioMeet 2020

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Renal Association senior members were well represented at the lecture by Professor John Cunningham – University College London, UK on “The kidney as a driver of cardiovascular disease” at CardioMeet 2020 held by the Cardiovascular Society (Mauritius).

The dramatic impact of kidney disease on cardiovascular mortality.

It was an emphatic and eloquent lecture from Prof J Cunningham who was beating the drum for nephrology at the cardiologists dominated conference.

Renal Association President Dr Fagoonee moderating.
Dr Gaya in the front row while RA Secretary Dr Ip asks a question.

It was a nice tantalising taster to the planned Renal Association conference “Let’s Talk Kidneys” in July.

Guy’s Hospital Transplant Team working visit

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During the third week of November, the Guy’s Hospital Transplant team came to Mauritius on a work visit to help to get the local kidney transplant programme reactivated. Kidney transplantlation in Mauritius came to a halt in 2016 with the retirement of the two local transplant surgeons.

This visit was organised by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW). The team consisted of Professor of Transplant Surgery Nizam Mamode of Mauritius parentage and Mauritius born Transplant Research Fellow Mr Benedict Phillips.

The four full working days consisted of meeting the Honourable Minister Dr K Jagutpal and appraising the potential transplant wards, operating theatres and the diagnostic facilities. There were meetings with various stakeholders and last but not least, workshops on legal framework and clinical protocols and pathways with senior MOHW officials and nephrologists (Dr K Fagoonee, Dr S Gaya, Dr D Ip).

The Guy’s Transplant team are also very eager to help with training local doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians. The local team will need to do further groundwork to meet their high standards before they can come over. Their plan is to help for a few years until the local team becomes autonomous.

Visit of Mr Jonathon Oldsburgh

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Mr Jonathon Olsburgh, renal transplant and urology surgeon from Guy’s Hospital London, kindly gave a lecture to the Medical Update Group at the University of Mauritius on the 21st of August 2019 on the subject of Live Donor Kidney a transplant.

It was a succinct and enjoyable talk on a very relevant topic in the context of the developing cooperation between Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Trust and the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life to restart the local kidney transplantation programme.

It was very kind of Mr Olsburgh to sacrifice some of his holiday time to speak to us. It was only right he was presented with a little souvenir. There was a lively and long discussion at the end.

The Founding of the Renal Association

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Dialysis came to Mauritius well before the first nephrologist. Even after, the number of nephrologists built up very slowly. An association remained a pipe dream for a long time…

Dr K Fagoonee, the founding president of the Renal Association, explains:

“The idea of the Renal Association germinated five years ago, in March 2015, between two of the present founding members, but at that time, there were too few Nephrologists in Mauritius, so it was pocketed till last year, when we had a greater ‘force de frappe’, in terms of members. After many deliberations, all founding members met on the 26 July 2019 to set up The Renal Association.”

“Here’s hoping that our association will pay tribute to those Father Figures who set the blueprints of Nephrology in Mauritius as early as the 1990’s as well as nurture new generations of Nephrologists. They will drive the future of Nephrology for the centuries to come….”

So, eight Mauritian dedicated nephrologists working in the public hospitals met in Port Louis on a winter evening almost a year ago. The Renal Association was born. There is now the hope that Nephrology in Mauritius will at long last emerge from the shadows. It really needs to.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) unfortunately affects 170,000 of our compatriots. 1,400 of them are on regular dialysis and 350 have functioning renal transplants. Morbidity and mortality are shockingly high and yet CKD is still little known to the public at large.

Although new therapeutic options are being devised to improve the life of those affected, delivery of effective care in Mauritius needs improving a lot. Our main goal has to promote the profession of Nephrology to improve the plight of kidney patients.

We want to facilitate co-operation between all interested parties in Nephrology, to promote continuous professional development of health care providers, to organize regular scientific meetings and seminars and engage eagerly with the Mauritian public on health promotion and education issues.

We want kidney health for all. Kidney health for everyone, everywhere.