The head of the Department of Nephrology and Transplantation at Nafissa Hamoud Hospital, Professor Tahar Rayan, called on kidney patients to avoid hospitals except in extreme cases due to the resurgence of the Coronavirus pandemic in Algeria, adding that the fragility of the health condition of these patients makes them more vulnerable to Covid-19.
As a guest on the program “This Morning” on the Algerian TV Channel Three News, Professor Tahar Rayan said, “It’s medically known that kidney patients have a weak immunity, which makes them vulnerable to all viruses,” explaining that since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in Algeria, “a series of recommendations were distributed to all departments of nephrology across the national territory that calls for the necessity of strict adherence to health protocol while calling on kidney patients to avoid moving to hospitals except in extreme cases due to the resurgence of Coronavirus and only do check-ups.”
In this context, the head of the Department of Nephrology and Transplantation at Nafissa Hamoud Hospital called on the Ministry of Health to allocate sufficient quantity of Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate all kidney patients in Algeria due to their fragile health condition and to have priority in vaccination, adding that “the weak immunity of these patients made them the most vulnerable groups to Coronavirus and their health condition was complicated by the emergence of this pandemic.”
As for the total number of kidney patients in Algeria, Professor Tahar Rayan revealed that there are 4 million Algerian patients, 25,000 of them suffer from chronic kidney failure are treated in blood filtering centers, and 2,200 of them have benefited from a kidney transplant.
