Uddanam kidney disease: Harvard team to meet victims, interact with Pawan Kalyan at Vizag

Professors and researchers from Harvard University will conduct a field study and tour Andhra Pradesh's Uddhanam region in Srikakulam district on Saturday.

The experts will examine locals, to try and diagnose the cause for a huge number of cases of kidney-related diseases in the region.

According to reports, the experts will also visit Boruvanka in Kaviti mandal, where a huge number of kidney-disease victims have been reported.

The tour is being organised by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party, and the researchers are expected to meet with the party chief in Visakhapatnam, after their tour. 

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Satish Kumar, the Jana Sena leader for Visakhapatnam said that senior party members will also meet with Kalyan after the Uddanam tour.

The report adds that Pawan Kalyan will attend a symposium at the V. Convention Hall which is located near the PM Palem area, on July 30, over the same issue.

As of 2015, it was estimated that more than 4,500 people had died in the last ten years, and around 34,000 people were suffering from kidney diseases in this area alone. 

It was reported that each family in the area had at least one person suffering from a kidney ailment. The cases had first mysteriously surfaced in the early 90s.

In 2011, a group of researchers had tested and studied the drinking water sources of the villages and found "the presence of phenols and mercury in drinking water to be very high...Phenols and mercury, being very toxic in their characteristic nature, are bio-accumulative. Hence these waters are found not suitable for potable purposes."

In 2016, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) along with researchers of Harvard University, Andhra Medical College, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and NTR University of Health Sciences had conducted research on the issue. Initially they found that “excessive levels of silica in water” could be the cause of the disease. However, the ICMR could not continue the research due to a fund crunch.

After the problem was highlighted recently by Pawan, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu has also announced measures to look into the issue.

The two politicians are also expected to meet on July 31, over the issue.