SRIKAKULAM: A high-level delegation, led by Minister for Medical and Health Kamineni Srinivas, will visit the Uddanam region in the district on Thursday to study the condition of patients suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).
Senior medical professors, including Vice-Chancellor of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences T. Ravi Raju, will interact with the patients and enquire about their food habits.
They will also study the condition of the soil, pesticides used for crops, and extent of water contamination.
Mr. Srinivas will later submit a detailed report to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda and seek the Centre’s support to find a permanent solution to the problem that led to the death of 4,000 persons in the last two decades.
In all, 20,000 patients have been suffering from the disease for the last few years in seven mandals, including Sompeta, Ichhapuram, Palasa, and Mandasa.
After the visit of actor and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan to the region on January 3, the State government announced a series of measures to provide quick relief to the patients. It promised to supply safe drinking water to all the affected villages from the Mahendratanaya as the groundwater in the Uddanam region was reportedly contaminated. Two dialysis units were sanctioned, one each in Palasa and Sompeta.
These apart, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that pension would be paid to all the kidney patients. They would also be provided free transport to enable them to get treatment in Sompeta, Palasa, and Srikakulam, where dialysis units would be available.
Palasa MLA Gouthu Shyam Sundar Shivaji sought supply of medicines free of cost to the patients.
Meanwhile, leaders of the YSR Congress and the Congress asked the government to implement the assurances made on a war-footing.
YSR Congress spokesperson Y. Dhanunjay said that establishment of a permanent research institution was the need of the hour, as experts would then be able to continue their study to get to the root cause of the problem.
Tentative studies and tours would not help identify the real cause for the spread of the disease, he said.
