Girandurukotte health authorities concerned over rise in acute renal ailments

The dialysis centre at the hospital which is not operating

It is our duty to provide them with treatment. However, we are facing hardships for want of adequate facilities for it. The dialysis unit and the patients’ hostel in the hospital premises have been closed for want of machinery and equipment”- Dr. R.M.U. Buddhika Chief Medical Officer of Girandurukotte General Hospital

Health authorities in Girandurukotte area are perturbed by the increasing rate of victims who have developed acute renal ailments; which they attribute to the excessive use of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides and agro –chemicals.
Chief Medical Officer of Girandurukotte General Hospital Dr. R.M.U. Buddhika said that more than 2000 patients suffering from renal ailments, caused by the use of agro-chemicals and fertilizer, had been identified and at least 200 of them were in the last stage of their ailment.

“It is our duty to provide them with treatment. However, we are facing hardships for want of adequate facilities for it. The dialysis unit and the patients’ hostel in the hospital premises have been closed for want of machinery and equipment. A bus complete with machinery and equipment to provide treatment has been left in the hospital premises for more than three years.” The Medical Officer further said.

Meanwhile residents of the area said that hundreds of people in several areas including Youth Colony, Bathalayaya, Tissapura, Keselpotha , Rideemaliyedda, Rotalawela, Belaganewa, and Welimadayaya have fallen a prey to this terminal disease. They requested the relevant authorities to supply organic fertilizer of the required standard in place of synthetic fertilizer.
These residents pointed out that agro-chemicals and pesticides used in agriculture flowed down the canals and rivers causing extensive damage to water resources. They pointed out that aquatic resources including fish in Uphitiya and Rathkinda tanks were facing the threat of extinction and that a layer of particles of chemicals floating in water was clearly visible in the morning when water was still. However authorities define it as Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology. 

Vedda Leader Uruvarigelage Vannila Ettho, who takes a keen interest in environmental protection, expressed concern about the kidney ailments caused by agro-chemicals and the increasing death rate. 
“However the medical specialists do not attribute the cause of kidney ailments to the use of agro-chemicals nor have they found the cause precisely.  It is a fact that the spread of kidney ailments in this manner have been experienced since we took to the use of agro-chemicals. The government must focus on it and boost the use of organic fertilizer and other methods of pest control,” he said.