Nellore: Kidney patients are in dire need of help

Nellore: Lashing out at Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for his “sheer negligence” of  the massive kidney disease numbers in several villages in Prakasam district, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday demanded Rs 10 lakh ex gratia to the families of those died of the disease.

During an interaction with hundreds of kidney patients at a public meeting at PC Pally, Mr Reddy said was “shameful to adopt a callous and irresponsible attitude” towards people’s problems.  A dialysis unit may cost Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, but Mr Naidu is not at all interested in providing the facility to the poor.

“More than 420 people died in the last 10 years due to the disease, but the government is not taking note of this,” he said and suggested that only safe, purified drinking water through a canal from Krishna river can put an end to the problem. he said.

“A similar problem was solved completely by the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy in Nalgonda district in Telangana state by providing safe drinking water. He also wanted to solve the problem in Prakasam and sanctioned the Veligonda project. But Mr Naidu is unable to complete another eight km of works in his two-and-a-half years tenure,” he said adding that the CM is only interested in works that can fetch him commissions, but not the welfare programmes.

Hundreds of kidney patients appealed to Jagan to help them get medical facilities in their respective villages. They said they are spending anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 per month for dialysis and those who could not afford it have succumbed to the disease.