The Human Rights Forum has brought the heart rendering story of victims of kidney disease of the vulnerable families of Govindapur village of Bheempur Mandal in Adilabad district to the notice of Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. The following memorandum has been submitted to the Governor by the office bearers of the Forum.
Respected Madam Governor,
The Human Rights Forum(HRF) is a non-political, non-funded citizens’ body established with the objective of protecting the Constitutionally guaranteed and internationally recognized rights of the people. The right to a wholesome and dignified life is the touchstone for the rightsthat may be aspired for. We are concerned with, among other things, ensuring thatthe government fulfills its welfare responsibilities and obligations.
We wish to bring to your notice the suffering from kidney ailments, being referred to as Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), among the Adivasis in Govindapur village of Bheempur Mandal in Adilabad District. A,HRF team that visited the village recently was told by local residents that over the past five years, 10 Adivasis of Govindapur have died because of kidney diseases.
Only 16 of the 40 families of Govindapur are now residing in the village. The remaining 24 families have left the village out of fear that they too might succumb to the kidney disease. They have moved far away from the village into the forest and are living in thatched houses they had put up. OneMarpuBheem Rao and his son, the only two male members in the family, died of CKD and now the women are finding it hard to get by. We were told that in the year 2008 also there were deaths from kidney ailments in Govindapur following which several families had migrated to other villages like Jendaguda and Rampur.
Deaths from kidney diseases in 2019
We recall reports of deaths from kidney disease in 2019 from Gadiguda, Narnoor, Indervelli, Sirikonda,Bheempur, and IchodaMandals in AdilabadDistrict and Kanchanpalli, Loddiguda, Vanariguda, and Lingapur in Lingapurmandalof KumuramBheemAsifabadDistrict.
Following reports that in 2017 and 2018 there were deaths due to CKD, a team of doctors from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad studied the incidence of various diseases including CKD among Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like Kolam, Thoti and Manne Dora. The team came out with a report but not much care was taken to address the issue and no special efforts were made to reduce the occurrence of kidney diseases. It was observed in the report that “CKD is one of the growing causes of mortality. We have studied the prevalence of renal dysfunction in primitive tribal groups, residing in areas that come under ITDA Utnoor. It was to find out general health profile. The causes are different from general population. Usually, in general population, diabetes is the reason, but in tribals it was mostly non-diabetic. It could be due to water issue or abuse of painkillers.”
Appeal to intervene
We appeal to you to invoke your authority under Part X of the Constitution and to intervene in the interests of the Adivasis. We urge you to see that appropriate measures are taken to ensure special medical care is extended to the hapless and terrified Adivasis who are suffering from Chronic Kidney Diseases.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
Atram Bhujanga Rao
DR. S. Thirupathaiah
Jeevan Kumar
Office bearers of HRF
