New research centre in Andhra Pradesh to treat kidney diseases
On July 3, the state government issued an order sanctioning the appointment of 41 super-specialists, specialists and medical officers at the Palasa research centre-cum-hospital, on a regular basis
Hyderabad
The establishment of a state-of the-art research centre at Palasa has rekindled hopes of people, amidst rise in the cases of mysterious kidney disease, that has crippled thousands in Uddanam area of Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district.
The research centre, being constructed at a cost of ₹50 crore, will be associated with a 200-bed super-speciality hospital exclusively for kidney patients. The research centre has been established in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“The construction of research centre-cum-hospital has been completed and is awaiting inauguration soon,” special chief secretary (medical and health) of Andhra Pradesh government, M T Krishna Babu, said.
On July 3, the state government issued an order sanctioning the appointment of 41 super-specialists, specialists and medical officers at the Palasa research centre-cum-hospital, on a regular basis. “It is the first of its kind research institute exclusively to deal with chronic kidney disease in the region, which has become an enigma for doctors, medical experts and scientists from across the world,” Krishna Babu said.
He further said that the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with George Institute for Global Health, Technology Education and Research Institute (TERI) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2019 to jointly conduct comprehensive research and identify the cause for kidney problems in Uddanam area of the state.
Geographically, the lush-green Uddanam region is spread across seven mandals (revenue blocks of Srikakulam district -- Ichapuram, Kaviti, Sompeta, Kanchili, Mandasa, Palasa and Vazrapukotturu. The tragic paradox of the area is that it is popular for cultivation of cashew nuts. For the last two decades, the people of Uddanam area, mostly farmers and agriculture labourers, have been suffering from the mysterious kidney epidemic of unknown etiology, popularly referred to as Uddanam Nephropathy.
“Various studies conducted by several national and international institutes, including the World Health Organisation, Harvard University, King George Hospitals, Visakhapatnam and NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada have revealed high prevalence of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology between 40% and 60% of the people in the area,” Krishna Babu said.
However, till now, neither scientists nor medical experts have been able to determine the exact root cause of the kidney diseases. “Some studies suspected that the disease might be due to high selenium or lead content in the water and some others suggested it to the nature of soil. There were studies which attributed the disease to temperature, low water consumption, excessive usage of painkillers, air composition and even genetic disorders,” the special chief secretary said.
But none of these studies have been able to give a correct picture. “Only people in Uddanam area are suffering from mysterious kidney ailments, while those on the other side of the national highway do not have the disease,” he said.
According to the estimates of ICMR (as of 2015), since 2005, more than 4,500 people died from chronic kidney disease, and around 34,000 people suffered from kidney diseases in Uddanam. “In the last five years, as many 1,221 people have died of mysterious kidney diseases in the area, including 97 deaths since January this year,” district medical and health officer (DMHO) of Srikakulam Dr N Anuradha said.
She said that even now, hundreds of patients continue to throng the government health centres regularly, complaining of kidney-related ailments. “We have as many as 18 primary health centres, five urban health centres and six community health centres, which remain flooded with patients on a regular basis,” Dr Anuradha said.
At present, there are five dialysis centres with 69 dialysis machines in Uddanam area at Kaviti, Sompeta, Palasa, Haripuram and Tekkali, established under Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP). Three more dialysis centres are coming up Baruva, Ichapuram and Kanchali with a total of 25 machines. They are being run in public-private partnership mode in collaboration with institutions like Apollo and Nephroplus, Anuradha said.
“All these beds in the dialysis centres are extremely busy round-the-clock. It takes nearly three hours for each cycle of dialysis and each patient has to undergo dialysis for three days a week. The demand for beds is so high that we are forced to do dialysis for six patients on one bed every day,” the DMHO said. “It is a heart-rending scene at these health centres every day to see patients suffering.”
Besides these government dialysis centres, quite a few private nursing homes with dialysis facilities have also come up in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam cities, making a brisk business. “But dialysis is an expensive procedure and costs around ₹10,000 for every cycle. Not everybody can afford it. Even those who are go to private dialysis centres come back to the government centres for follow-up, as it is done free of cost here,” Anuradha said.
The district medical officers are now conducting regular screening of patients to identify new chronic kidney disease cases, if any, at an early stage and treat them medically. “A dedicated online application has been developed and Community Health Officer (CHO) has been deployed to conduct screening of all people in the Uddanam area. Blood samples will be sent to the PHC [primary health centre] lab for testing for serum creatinine and blood urea levels,” the DMHO said.
Apart from setting up of the research institute at Palasa, the government has simultaneously taken up Uddanam drinking water project at a cost of ₹742 crores to supply safe drinking water to the villages in the area. “This project is also nearing completion and is all set for inauguration,” Krishna Babu said.
Besides, the government has also set up seven filtration plants, each of 10,000 litres capacity, and 135 remote water dispensing units, each of 5,000 litres capacity, covering 165 villages in the area. “The government is also providing a pension of ₹10,000 per month to every patient undergoing dialysis and ₹5,000 per month to each patient who do not need dialysis,” he said.