COLOMBO, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Over 6,000 people in Sri Lanka have died from kidney diseases between 2016 to 2018, local media reports, quoting the government said here Friday.
Lands and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Gayantha Karunathilaka, answering on behalf of Health Minister, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne in Parliament said that 6,481 deaths had been reported within last 3 years which includes 2,135 deaths in 2016, 2,159 deaths in 2017 and 2,187 deaths in 2018.
During the period under review, there had been 17,503 kidney disease cases reported from hospitals while 787 people had undergone kidney transplants.
The minister said some of the worst affected districts were Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, in north central Sri Lanka and Badulla in the lower central hills.
Sri Lanka and China last year launched the construction of a state-of-the-art water testing laboratory at the Peradeniya University, in the central highlands of the island country to find a scientific solution to end chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu).
Construction of this laboratory is expected to finish in May 2020.
