SRIKAKULAM: As many as 493 new chronic kidney disease (CKD) cases have been identified from October 2018 to October this year by medical officials in Akkupalli Primary Health Centre (PHC) purview in Vajrapukotturu mandal. A total of 5,000 CKD cases have been found in past two years in the Uddanam region comprising seven mandals. Two or three new kidney disease cases are detected regularly in the PHC.
About 1,472 CKD cases have been identified from the villages in the purview of the PHC since 2016. The CKD cases are on the rise in Uddanam. There were about 257 cases in the Akkupalli PHC purview during the screening drive in 2017 and its number has increased to 1,472 currently. For the record, in 2017, during the fomer TDP government, about 13,000 CKD cases were identified during the screening drive conducted in the Uddanam region. Mobile teams conducted screening of more than one lakh people in 105 villages.
But despite this, several new cases have surfaced frequently. After the screening drive, serum creatinine and blood urea examinations were made available at the PHCs. About 5,000 CKD cases were identified in the past two years in Uddanam region. There are 17 PHCs and six Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the region.
“We have been maintaining health records of each patient in separate books of the PHC for follow-up,” Dr Kasa Manohar of Akkupalli PHC said. Out of the total cases, 112 CKD victims have received over 5.1 mg/dl. For various reasons, including social stigma, people of the could not come out for undergoing kidney screening tests. After creating awareness , people started queuing up to the nearby government health centres for kidney tests, he said.
“We have been administering iron sucrose transfusion for anaemic cases in the patients where the private doctors generally charge about Rs 1,000,” he said. As many as 55 non-dialysis CKD patients from the Akkupalli PHC have been found eligible for monthly pension.