DAVAO CITY (PIA) -- A medical professional has advised the public, particularly men, not to be shy when they experienced sexual problems as this could be symptoms of underlying health conditions.

“For middle-aged men, whenever you have sexual problems mahirap makatayo (difficulty in erection), mahirap labasan (difficulty in ejaculation), those symptoms are not symptoms na tawanan lang (that you could laugh about). They are symptoms of an uncontrolled diabetes or hypertension for some of our men,” says Dr. Jera Dean Travilla, a urologist at the Southern Philippine Medical Center.

He stressed that among the most common reasons of impotence among middle aged men is uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension.

These two conditions are the most common factor that would lead to kidney diseases or end stage renal disease.

According to Dr. Maria Therese Bad-Ang, past president of the Philippine Society of Nephrology Mindanao, there is an increasing trend of people developing end stage renal disease. As per current data there are 90,000 in the Philippines are diagnosed with ESRD.

“Each year, nag-iincrease po sila. The incident rate here in Davao City is 1,200 and that is the data in 2016, and imagine they are increasing by 10 to 12 percent every year,” Bad-Ang said. (RG Alama/PIA Davao City)