Pawan vows to find a solution to Uddanam kidney problem

Visakhapatnam, July 30 (IANS) Popular Telugu actor and Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan on Sunday said he would continue his efforts till finding a permanent solution to the problem of high prevalence of kidney-related diseases in Uddanam region in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district.

He met a team of doctors, including a professor from Harvard Institute of Medicine, which visited the region to study the problem and was briefed about its findings.

The actor-politician along with the medical team will meet Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday to submit the recommendations. Naidu is expected to make key announcements to address the issue.

Interacting with the medical team, which visited the region at the instance of Jana Sena, Pawan said his efforts would succeed only after a permanent solution to the problem was found.

"Any big effort begins with first small step. We have taken the first step," he said.

The actor clarified that his effort was aimed at solving people's problem and it was not for politics.

He said if necessary he would take the help of opposition YSR Congress Party to address the issue.

In January, Pawan had visited Uddanam and after meeting some kidney patients, he had urged the state government to address the problem in a time-bound manner.

Noting successive government failed to address the issue despite large number of people dying of kidney-related ailments in one region, he warned that if the government and public representatives failed to respond, the Jana Sena will launch a public movement on the issue.

Stating that setting up dialysis centres is not a solution, he said efforts should be made to find out the causes and prevent the disease.

Pawan had also tweeted that that over 20,000 people of all age groups have died of chronic kidney diseases in the region during the last two decades.

"Currently lakhs are affected with this chronic kidney disease known as 'Uddanam Nephropathy'. Successive governments and honourable legislative members of the last two decades could not address this issue effectively," he had said.

The party's media team documented sufferings of the people. According to the World Health Organisation, Uddanam is one of the three regions in the world with the highest concentration of chronic kidney diseases.