Kidney ailments killing villagers, 100 dead in 2 years

By SNV Sudhir

Gunupalli (Srikakulam), Mar 15: The remote Gunupalli village in Vajarapukotturu mandal of Srikakulam district is cursed. The people are dying a slow death and neighbouring villagers even fear to dream of visiting this place.The reason- people fear an unknown ailment would destroy their kidneys if they drink the water available there.. And if the visit is a must people carry their own water and they never dare to stay overnight. The worst part of it is the youngsters of this village were not offered girls from other villages to marry. Similar is the state of around 35villages in this mandal. Villagers from other mandals do not visit these villages for any marriage or other functions. People in around 40 villages of Vajrapukothuru, Kaviti mandals and few in Palasa of Srikakulam district suffering with various kidney ailments are now looking for aid from state government.
It was reported that more than 100 persons died with unknown kidney ailments in these mandals in a short span of two years. The number is high in Vajrapukothuru mandal. But until now there was no constructive study or efforts made by the State into this serious issue. Ganogala Komalamma, a resident of Gunupalli is still in the state of shock. She cannot digest the fact that her loving husband and caring son are no more. They died a two years back due to chronic renal failure, which had become a very common disease in these mandals. More than 85 died in just 12 villages coming under Akkupalli Primary Health Centre in Vajrapukothuru mandal but the official records available at the PHC shows the number is just 7. And the names of Rama Rao, 50 and Santha Rao, 26, husband and son of Komalamma whom this correspondent met were not listed in the PHC records. Now these villagers go all the way to Vizag around 180kms from the village to get kidney treatment, as the government was not able to provide any facilities to treat this ‘costly’ disease. “It’s a very costly affair. And there is no guarantee that one would survive after the treatment starts. Regular usage of medicines can just prolong the life for few more days. And it costs around Rs 2,000 per month to get treatment and medicines which is burden for a small time villager” said the sarpanch of the village Surada Dharma Rao. The main vocation of most of the kidney-affected persons is fishing as all the villages are on the coast. Dharma Rao said that most of the villagers died in no time after they were detected with renal failure. He added that the kidney disease was discovered in their village from 2003 end onwards. Till then there were not many kidney complaints from their village. “After 2004 if any death occurred other than old age deaths and accidents that must be due to kidney ailment only. By the time people come to know that they were affected with some kidney ailment they die. And it’s continuing till now. Last night also Gavada Upendra Rao, 45, a small time employee died of chronic kidney disease” said the sarpanch. Goapalsetty Venkat Rao, a resident of Metturu goes to Vizag every month to consult a private nephrology specialist. He was going there for the past 4 years and knows that he may die in any moment. “It at least costs me around Rs 2,000 per trip to Vizag and it’s very hard to bear the regular expenses” he said. Ironically the people there still do not know why they are affected with kidney ailments, which was not like this earlier and dying. The Akkupalli PHC just have a facility to test the blood and glucose levels but no sophisticated equipment to detect the ailment. “There should be at least a ultra sound equipment and auto analyzer to detect the kidney disease,” said DR B S Nehru, renowned nephrology specialist of Vizag. Most of the kidney-affected persons from these mandals are his patients. He observed that there was no scientific research or serious study made to look into the root cause for these ailments in these villages, which is a need of the hour. Dr Nehru also opined that excessive usage of painkillers and less water consumption by the people living in these villages might be one of the reasons for the kidney complaints. The nephrology specialist also once visited some of the villages after more number of renal failure cases were reported a few months back. People there believe that due to consumption of fish caught by them from the sea having heavy metals could be cause for the kidney ailments and dying. But it always remained a mystery for us, said N Linga Raju another patient. The district medical and health department had tested the bore and natural water available in the villages and the results were negative. The district medical and health officer Dr Jaganmohan Rao said that from this April onwards the kidney ailments could be detected at the multi specialty center being setup at Srikakulam under the State’s prestigious Arogya Sri programme. Srikakulam was one of the two places identified in the state to setup this multi specialty center. He also added that the kidney patients from these villages can also avail other benefits under this scheme. The chief investigator for Andhra Pradesh of the national programme Screening and Early Evaluation of Kidney diseases (SEEK) and Vizag’s King George Hospital superintendent Dr P Raviraju said that they have collected around 400 blood samples from one of the three mandals and sent them to Ranbaxy’s central laboratory at Mumbai and are awaiting the reports. “We would start detailed, scientific study into the reasons of the kidney diseases in these villages after we get the reports and if the number of kidney affected people is more than normal. Till now there is no serious study. We are expecting results in one or two months and would start the study” said Dr Raviraju, who visited these villages several times in the past.