Kidney ailment a mystery
20% people from 6 mandals in Srikakulam affected
By : j. umamaheswara rao
Update: 2015-07-17 04:04 GMT
Visakhapatnam: Since the early ’90s, thousands of people, particularly farmers and agricultural workers, have been afflicted with kidney ailments in the Uddanam area of Srikakulam district. The reason still remains a mystery. According to medical officials, about 4,500 people have died and about 50,000 people are suffering from kidney disease here.
The chronic kidney disease, which is usually prevalent in people suffering severe diabetes and/or hypertension, is also seen among the youth of this area. Many studies in the past have failed to unravel the mystery behind the kidney ailments in this region.
Speaking to this newspaper, Dr T. Ravi Raju, vice-chancellor of Dr NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, said, “About 120 villages from six mandals of Srikakulam are ravaged by kidney ailments of varying degrees. About 20 per cent population of some villages is suffering from some form of kidney ailment and at any given point of time, 250 patients are undergoing dialysis in RIMS, Srikakulam.”
Asked about the research that the Andhra Medical College had conducted in association with Harvard University, Dr Raju said that they had identified high levels of silica in the water, which can be causally linked to the diseases. He added that they would be conducting another round of studies in August by collecting kidney biopsies and ultrasounds.
He was confident that this study would end the mystery of the origin of these maladies. A study done by the National Geophysical Res-earch Institute, Hyderabad, and WHO India had also failed to draw any conclusions. Meanwhile locals of Kaviti, Ichapuram, Mandasa, Sompeta, Kanchiliand and Vajrapukotthuru mandals are living under a veritable curse.
Mr D. Satish Kumar, a representative of the Uddanam Youth Club, which is making the public aware of the diseases and their management, said, “Despite the increasing death toll, no nephrologist has been deployed in Sompeta and Ichapuram government hospitals which are in the vicinity of the disease hotspot. And the poor people are hesitant to go to RIMS in Srikakulam or KGH in Visakhapatnam due to lack of money for travel.”
Piriya Sai Raj, former MLA of Ichapuram, who has been running the Uddanam Foundation for the kidney ailment patients, said, “The government has to provide free mineral water to the public as there is an apprehension that these illnesses might be due to higher levels of toxins and metals in the water.” He also demanded the government to establish a nephrology division at Sompeta Government Hospital and provide pensions to the ailing patients.
Mystery ailment affects marriage plans of youth:
In addition to the devastation it caused in Uddanam area, the kidney conundrum has also opened a Pandora’s box for the people of this region. With the WHO identifying this region as one of the three areas burgeoning with kidney cases, vacancies in government offices and schools are common in this areas.
Many state employees who are working here prefer to stay in other parts of the district and are sca-red to drink water here. The situation has also become tricky for youngsters planning to get married in the future. They have to find a girl from the same village or mandal as no one from other districts want to marry a girl or boy from this area due to the fear that they may also contract the disease in future.
Villagers thus do not furnish any details to journalists or strangers who visit their villages and many kidney cases go unnoticed. Mr Satish Kumar of Borivanka village said that the disease had made their life miserable in ways difficult to prophesize, including trouble finding a soul mate, decreased visits of relatives, economic crisis and unemployment besides ill health.