SRIKAKULAM: District Collector K Dhananjaya Reddy on Wednesday said that village-level awareness camps on the Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) in Uddanam villages will be conducted after September 6 for six months.
Addressing a gathering at an awareness meeting at Sompeta, the Collector said screening tests were conducted only in 176 out of the total 589 villages in the Uddanam region. He also said only 1.03 lakh people were screened out of the about seven lakh population. The people who underwent screening were over 40 years of age.
Despite 13,000 people being found with abnormal levels of creatinine, not even 500 people availed themselves of CKD medicines. Though the research programme was continuing, awareness programmes would make the people follow precautions. Dhananjaya Reddy directed the officials and other members to infuse confidence among the people in government services. On the occasion, Ichhapuram MLA Bendalam Ashok had appealed to private medical practitioners not to prescribe pain killers which are said to be one of the root causes of CKD.
He also appealed to the pharmacies not to sell painkillers without doctors’ prescription. During the interaction, a Sadhikara Mitra said that out of 240 deaths reported in Sompeta mandal, 22 were due to CKD.
Sompeta medical officer Dr Jogi Naidu said that most of the Uddanam people consume inadequate water due to wage works, resulting in kidney diseases. Taking sugar water for dehydration also leads to kidney diseases. Dr Balaji, who heads the ICMR team, said that they had identified 176 high prevalence areas of the CKD out of 589 villages in the Uddanam.