Smoking Shisha Can Lead To Kidney Failure – Expert

 

SEUN SHOTUNDE, ABEOKUTA

A specialist in kidney dialysis, Adebayo Sokunbi, has urged youth who are in the habit of smoking shisha at bars and nightclubs to desist from such act in order to avoid kidney problem in future.

Shisha is a single or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporising, which is used to smoke tobacco, cannabis or hashish, usually at the club or bar.

Sokunbi, Chief Executive Officer, Kidney Clinics Nigeria Limited, in an exclusive interview with The Point at the 2021 celebration of July Club of Nigeria, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, warned that continuous indulgence in the lifestyle might lead to kidney failure.

He warned youths to desist from smoking and the use of illicit drugs.

According him, shisha smoking could lead to acute kidney injury, which might later result in chronic kidney damage that could be treated only through dialysis or transplant.

Sokunbi urged smokers to visit the hospital for medical check up to guarantee the safety of their health and to avoid future breakdown of their kidney.

He said, “We can put shisha in the class of drugs that had been abused. They can affect the kidney or cause kidney failure. The best thing is for them to go for medical check-up.

“The drugs make the body get hot and most of the drugs cause hypertension and acute kidney injury. Sometimes, it leads to chronic kidney damage that can only be treated through dialysis or transplant.”

Earlier, the coordinator of the JNC, Idowu Rotimi, also advised youths to desist from smoking shisha and other harmful substances like cocaine and heroine in order to avoid damaging their kidneys.

“We should take good care of ourselves just as the specialist had told us. We should desist from taking dangerous drugs like cocaine, heroine and the likes,” he said.