Tirupati: After kidney disease was said to be prevalent in Uddanam village in Srikakulam district, people living in villages in Chittoor district are said to be victims of another high risk disease — cancer. The hamlets of Laddigam, Chukkavari Palle and Edigavari Palle in Chowdepalli mandal are reporting high incidences of cancer.
Of the three villages, the situation is said to be worst in Laddigam village, a predominantly agriculture based village of 1,500 population. According to official records, of the 20 deaths that have occurred during the past five years in Laddigam village, 10 were related to cancer and among 13 live cases, three are cancer related and the rest are under investigation.
But according to the villagers, 20 people died of cancer in 2018 alone. Another 10 cancer deaths occurred last year in the other two hamlets and nearly 14 people from these three hamlets are under treatment in hospitals in Tirupati, Vellore and Bengaluru.
Besides the patients who have been diagnosed, there are unconfirmed reports that 47 people in these hamlets are living under the possible threat of cancer-related diseases and are yet to be diagnosed.
“Recently, my right hand was affected with cancer and it was taken out from my body. My wife Reddemma was also affected with cancer and died last year. Now, from being farmer, I have turned into a vagabond and am begging for food and money in the village where I once lived a comfortable life,” says Ramesh from Laddigam.
Another villager, Mr Reddy, who lost his mother, said that mostly farmers were being affected by cancer related issues and it was more prevalent in women.
“We suspect that the deaths that occurred last year were due to cancer. We appealed to the authorities to look into the issue. Though a medical camp was conducted, there is still a lot more to do from the government end to assess the exact reason and eradicate this menace from our village,” Mr Reddy said.
Chowdepalli mandal tahsildar K. Bhagya Latha said that after the villagers informed her about the series of deaths that occurred in the past year, “I took the matter to the District Collector P.S. Pradyumna, who immediately spoke to SVIMS authorities and arranged a medical camp here. The doctors are trying to ascertain the exact cause for cancer prevalence here and we are expecting that the screening test results will be out soon.”
More than half the villagers who are said to have died of cancer are women. The camp also concentrated more on women patients and were screened for breast, cervix and oral cancers. Cancer screening of men was also conducted along with a door to door survey of 340 households for enumeration and risk assessment. SVIMS is now assessing the cancer incidence and prevalent cases.
