More articles by

Lalita Iyer
Lalita Iyer

ANDHRA PRADESH

Central team to visit Uddanam to study kidney disease

PTI1_9_2017_000207A The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda addressing at the inauguration of the CGHS wellness centre in Visakhapatnam on Monday | PTI

The decision comes after Pawan Kalyan flagged the issue

The Centre will send a team of specialists to study the cause of the chronic kidney diseases (CKD) in Uddanam of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh. The decision came after Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan  set a 48-hour deadline to the state government to appoint a cabinet sub-committee on deaths due to the disease.

The team of specialists from the health ministry and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) will devise a research programme for a scientific study to find out the cause of the problem.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda said: “If the state government wants, the Centre will set up a special dialysis centre in Uddaanam region which can cater to the needs of the patients.” 

Currently patients have to travel long distances for dialysis, leading to several problems. In the existing Pradhana Mantri Dialysis Yojana, dialysis centres can be set up in partnership with private agencies under the public private partnership model, where the government bears the cost of dialysis procedures of victims falling under below poverty line category.

With the state being woken up from its stupor, Andhra University professors are also being roped in to study the basic cause of the disease, while others from the geo-physics and geo-engineering departments will study the water, soil and other issues. 

Uddanam area ranks fourth in the world in kidney-related deaths. Pawan, who interacted with kidney patients at Manikanta cine theatre in Itchapuram town, wanted the government to find quick solutions to this long-standing problem. 

The Jana Sena Party founder took the Central and state governments to task for its failure to prevent kidney diseases at Itchapuram, Kaviti, Kanchili, Sompetamandals in Uddanam area. He demanded that this problem be looked upon as a calamity and warned that if the state government did not act, JSP would start a movement with the affected people.

Successive governments had made various attempts to address the issue. In 2011, research was done on the drinking water sources of the surrounding villages, and the presence of phenols and mercury in drinking water was found very high. Both these compounds are very toxic and hence the water not suitable for drinking. Though this could have been one of the reasons, there was no conclusive evidence that this caused kidney problem.

Later in 2016, big guns like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) along with researchers of Harvard University, Andhra Medical College, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and NTR University of Health Sciences conducted their research on the issue. They found that there was an excessive level of silica in water but they left the research midway due to lack of funds.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced pensions for kidney patients of this region under the physically handicapped category, and said that his government will support any ongoing research.

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Topics : #Andhra Pradesh

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