Killer kidney disease spreads to North …affects 2,000 snuffs out 1,000 lives August 29, 2014, 9:48 pm By Don Asoka Wijewardena More than 2,000 people, mostly farmers, in the Vavuniya District constituting of 29 villages have contracted Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and nearly 1,000 people have already died, a government official says. Co-ordinator to Presdient Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Wanni District Premaratne Sumithipala told The Island that the CKD had been rapidly spreading in the Vavuniya District, where mostly paddy farmers had become victims. The disease was prevalent in the Southern parts of the Vavuniya District, he said. The CKD destroyed many lives than terrorism did during the war years, he added. The residual agrochemicals deposited in water resources could be the reason for the disease, Sumathipala said. The areas populated by Tamils were not affected because agrochemicals had been banned there for many years due to the war. Sumithipala added that the Presidential Task Force for the Prevention of Kidney Disease had commenced an awareness programme to discourage farmers from using agrochemicals. The Task Force had also begun to distribute traditional rice varities like ‘kalu heenati’ to paddy farmers. Sumathipala said that the health care services provided to the victims were not adequate as the CKD affected patients were dependent on specialized treatment, especially heamodylasis which was available only at the Anuradhapura or Kandy hospitals. He said the time had come for agrochemicals to be banned in Sri Lanka for the sake of public health. island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=109352
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:25:04 +0000
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