CKDu takes at least two lives a day

Currently over 200,000 patients, including children as young as 10, suffer from the disease. At least 15% of the population in the 15-70 age group, in the two provinces has been affected. The situation appears to be worsening, with the disease spreading to the North Western and Southern Provinces, experts warn. In one of the worst-affected areas, Padavi-Sripura in the North Central Province, 500 residents have died from the disease. At the local secondary school, Palugaswanguwa Maha Vidyalaya, about 50 students have lost one or both of their parents. Like previous governments, this government too has done nothing to prevent the disease or minimize its toll, apart from appointing Committees from time to time. Patients need costly kidney dialysis, but for many it is not available. They die waiting for beds in over-stretched State hospitals, because public health spending has been slashed by successive governments. Callous official indifference Angered by callous official indifference, the villagers in Dehiattakandiya in the Ampara District have named a local road Wakugadu Mawatha (Kidney Road). There is at least one CKDu patient in every house. Doctors say that men involved in farming for more than 10 years are at a higher risk of developing the disease, but the absence of clinical symptoms until its late stages makes diagnosis and treatment difficult. The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a research project several years ago, but has been unable to definitely identify the disease's causes. Last year, the WHO stated multiple causes, including exposure to arsenic and cadmium, might be responsible. Approximately 88% of CKDu patients had arsenic and/or cadmium in their urine. The water sources used by the patients were 99% hard. Hardness of water is known to reflect heavy metal toxicity, experts say. Researchers from two universities, Kelaniya and Rajarata (collectively known as KRRT), concluded that the prime cause of disease is metalloid arsenic. Their study found that arsenic compounds accumulated in the kidney because food supplies (especially drinking water and rice) were contaminated with arsenic, due to the use of agro-chemicals containing the toxin. The researchers said they found high quantities of arsenic in the soil, groundwater, rice and pesticides. Not only rice, but also corn, vegetables and plants grown in the area, positively tested for arsenic, as well as mercury. Arsenic in water