Janashakthi joins fight against chronic kidney disease
Saturday, 15 March 2014 00:00
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In response to an urgent community need, over 400 residents of Anuradhapura District participated in a special series of medical clinics sponsored by Janashakthi Insurance.
Residents of Senapura, Kahatagasgigiliya, Mihintale, Talawa, Ipalogama, Rambagalawindunu Wewa and Rambewa benefited from the medical clinics, which included free screening.
Janashakthi Insurance tied up with the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital especially for the project, following continued reports of kidney related disease in the area. As part of the project, Anuradapura residents benefited from free medical screening which would help identify those people at risk of or suffering from chronic kidney disease, so that they could receive much-needed treatment.
Around 400,000 people are estimated to be affected by Chronic Kidney Disease in the North Central province alone, a wide-ranging article points out. This means that five or six people out of every 100 people in the North Central Province are affected by Chronic Kidney Disease.
In his article ‘Political Economy of Epidemic Kidney Disease’ (2013), Asoka Bandarage calls Chronic Kidney Disease a “humanitarian tragedy with vast implications.”
First detected in the early 1990s, this deadly disease has spread from the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Districts in the North Central Province to the Eastern, North Western, Uva and Central Province. The affected area now covers 17,000 kilometres, a vast tract of land occupied by over two million people.
While at one point chronic kidney disease was found mostly among male farmers in the 40 to 60 age group, this dynamic is now changing, with patients being diagnosed including women, children and even cattle, Bandarage says.
As such, the current escalation of renal disease is a major problem affecting Sri Lanka as a whole. It is in order to alleviate this problem that the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital and the Anuradhapura Kidney Protection Foundation have come together for this community service project, powered by Janashakthi Insurance.
“The Anuradhapura Kidney Protection Foundation together with the Anuradapura Teaching Hospital have been conducting blood and urine tests free of charge, in order to identify patients of chronic kidney disease. So far, more than 3000 residents have been screened at about 18 different screenings- around 10-20% have been diagnosed as chronic kidney disease patients,” Dr. Sriyani De Alwis, Medical Officer at Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital said. Consultant nephrologists Dr. Rajiva Dassanayake and Dr. Nalaka Herath conducted the screenings.
“Our goal is always to inspire confidence in the community. This is just one of our many activation projects, reaching out to the general public in Anuradapura. We are proud to work together with the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital in order to contribute to the good health of the community. Moving beyond providing a security blanket in times of trouble, we hope this programme will also prolong the lives of Anuradhapura residents,” said Manager of Brand Activations R.K.A. Kelum Weerasinghe.
Recently, Janashakthi gifted three wheelers to two lucky drivers in a raffle draw, following on from an islandwide sticker promotion. Janashakthi’s contribution to CSR encompasses many areas from sport, through the sponsorship of key events and young rural athletic stars, to preventing soil erosion in the Ma Oya area.
