Jana Sena Party (JSP) founder Pawan Kalyan’s address at the Harvard on the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) problem in the Uddanam region of Srikakulam district has attracted the attention of the world in general, scientific community in particular.
On the request of Mr. Pawan Kalyan, Joseph Bonventre, Chief of Nephrology Division at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, and Venkata Sabbisetti, a faculty member, came to the city on their way to meet the patients of Uddanam and gather first-hand information.
“We are working with Mr. Pawan Kalyan to set up a world-class research institute in Uddanam to tackle the endemic kidney disease,” Dr. Joseph said on the YouTube.
Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas also acknowledged the contribution of Mr. Pawan Kalyan in drawing world attention to the problem in a separate television interview. Vice-Chancellor of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences T. Ravi Raju, a renowned nephrologist, apprised Dr. Joseph of the studies made in the past.
“We had analysed over 1,00,000 patients. Many were in the 40-50 age group and in the early stages of CKD. We had a lot of problem till recently in convincing the scientific community on the high prevalence of CKD in the region,” Dr. Raju said.
“Though we made a study of 1,00,000 people, which is about half the population of the region, systematic studies could be done only in the case of 2,500 patients. Their blood samples were preserved,” he said, and suggested the involvement of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in the research.
‘Socio-economic issue’
“This is a health and socio-economic problem, and should be seen as such,” opined Dr. Raju when a TV reporter wondered whether the Harvard team had come on behalf of the State government or the JSP.
Hari Prasad of the JSP medical team concurred with the view. But a few JSP activists felt that Dr. Raju should have given credit to Mr. Pawan Kalyan.
