According to the annual report in 1988, there were more than 5,000 new kidney failure cases in Canada; the new reports from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, however, have found out that there were more than 36,000 Canadians living with kidney failure at the end of 2008, increase of 57 per cent since 1999.

On Tuesday, The Canadian Institute for Health Information released its report on treatment of last stage organ failures.

Three out of five of those kidney failure patients were on dialysis, a treatment which functions to purify a person's blood once the kidneys can no longer perform that function effectively. While two out of five were living with a functioning kidney transplant.

Dr. Joanne Kappel, Head of Nephrology with the Saskatoon Health Region said, "The number of new people starting dialysis has declined".

The Canadian Diabetes Association has estimated that the number of Canadians with diabetes will triple between 2000 and 2020. Kappel adds, "That will be 3.7 million people in 2020 with diabetes and if 35 per cent of them then develop end-stage renal disease -- that is quite a lot of people".

It was also said that due to worldwide obesity problems, the risk of diabetes and renal failures are increasing at a rapid rate.