By Ratna B.Ekanayake Eppawala Correspondent-Courtesy The Island

Dr Channa Jayasumana, Media Officer and Head of the Research team on kidney ailments of the Kelaniya UniversityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  said that so far 20,000 persons have died of kidney ailments and another 15.5% have been identified as havingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ kidney related diseases.

“Other thanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  politicians and big wigs of the government all the down trodden people in the North Central Province are suffering from kidney ailments though it had gone unnoticed and this disease is a curse which would eventually wipe out the whole population of Rajarata ,” he said.

SomeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  politicians and bureaucrats are under obligation to multinational companies as theyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  have allegedly taken kick backs from them while turning the poor masses into pawns, he added.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  We only see the tip of the iceberg to the kidney ailment in the North Central Province he said.

” A kidney patient will not know thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  he or she is afflicted with the diseaseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  until the kidneys have failed to an extent ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  70ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  percent, Jayasumana pointed out.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The ailment is diagnosed only after symptoms such as lack ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  appetite, lack of blood and increase in blood pressure and by this time the illness had become acute and in a short time the patient dies, he said.

There is no medicine for a permanent cure and the only solution is a kidney transplant, but how would one find thousands of kidneys, he asked.

“In another 10 years time the human population inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Rajarata will be completely wiped outƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  without any people and the area will be deserted as after the Magha invasion,” Dr Jayasumana said.

At the end of last year, there was an internationalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  conference of scientists on chemical fertilizer and pesticides held in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

The main agricultural crop inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  these countries was the growing of sugar cane and plantainsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  on thousands of acres and majority of these plantations are owned by American companies producing agro chemicals. In NicaraguaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  within two years 12,000 plantation workers died of arsenic, cyanide and cadmium poisoning, he pointed out.

Dr Jayasumana said that Sri Lanka imports sugar from those countries andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  we need to do research on this again.

In research conducted by the World Health OrganisationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  it was disclosed that arsenic was found in samples taken from the bodies of plantation workers of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica, Dr Jayasumana said.

The WHO also said that there was a similar situation in Sri Lanka as well.

“When we disclosed these facts, politicians and bureaucratsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  who had taken fat commissions found fault with us, he said.

In the North Central Province ground water is contaminated with chemicals as large amounts of chemical fertilizer is used in the area, he warned.