One aftershock -- kidney failure has shot up

One aftershock -- kidney failure has shot up
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

AHMEDABAD, FEB 1: For the survivors of the earthquake, there is no respite. An increasing number of them are being admitted to the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research (IKDR) at the Civil Hospital campus with kidney failure.

The IKDR has admitted as many as 33 patients from Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Gandhidham and other affected areas in the last two days alone. Doctors expect the number to go up to 150 in the next couple of days as myoglobin, the muscle protein that causes kidney failure, begins to make its effect felt in about three to four days.

``Most people have suffered muscle tears and injuries, and myoglobin has been released in their blood,'' IKDR director H L Trivedi said, adding that all patients will be saved as dialysis is being done for everyone twice a day.

Like haemoglobin, myoglobin is a muscle protein and is, in fact, the principal constituent of muscles. ``When a muscle suffers damage, myoglobin is released into the blood stream and when this reaches the kidneys, it is capable of causing renal failure,'' Trivedi said.

All survivors are being treated free of cost at the hospital and special rooms have been converted into wards to accommodate patients.

Hiten Ranchhod Dholakia, 24, of Bhuj city, who survived under the debris by drinking his urine, is one of the patients at the institute. He was rushed to the city in an IAF helicopter on Tuesday morning and admitted to the institute. Speaking to The Indian Express

, he said he was trapped for 40 hours before being saved by the Army.

``At first I kept shouting for help but no one would heard. Then I became very thirsty and thought I would die if I had no water. I had to drink my urine in order to remain alive,'' he said. Hiten said he had just woken up and was brushing his teeth, when the apartment came crashing down.