Fluoride killing people in Prakasam

When elixir of life rings death knell in Ongole

M. Ilyas

Ongole, Sept. 2: Lakhs of villages in India wrestle with health problems because of lack of potable water. But in 21 villages of Prakasam district, it is potable water which is the villain. Water with high fluoride content is turning out to be a slow poison for people in these villages. Mr Ravindra Reddy, 50, of Tummedalapadu village, about 100 km from Ongole, is one of the victims of the noxious water. He suffers from muscular contractions and joint pains and has been bedridden for 10 years. When he sleeps, his legs are tied to the bed since otherwise they will jerk back automatically. There are several others in the village who also suffer from joint pains, numbness and yellowing of teeth, all symptoms of skeletal and dental fluorosis. There are hundreds of others with similar symptoms in Kanigiri, Kandukur, Chimakurthi, Podili, Santhanutalapadu and another 20 villages in the area. Nowadays, people are aware that these are the ill-effects of water taken from heir bore wells but they can do nothing about it. They have no choice but to drink the water. A team from the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences recently conducted medical camps in these villages in which they screened 2,000 people for the effects of fluoride poisoning. Of them, around 600 were found to be showing symptoms of with kidney and skeletal disorders. They belonged to several villages including Chimalamarri, Lakshmipuram, S.N.Padu, Koppera Padu, Pernametta, Reddy Palem, Mugachintala, M.V. Palem, Podili, Boda Palem, Diwakarpally, and Neredupally. People of Pedagogulapalli village claim that 150 people died in their locality in the last three years after consuming the contaminated water and 500 were undertaking treatment. "Of them, 100 are suffering from cancer," said a villager. Those who died in the village last year include Midium Chinanagaih, Midium Nagamma and Poka Venkaiah. Nagamma’s husband Venkata Swamy and her son Rama Naidu died of cancer and another son, M. Venugopal, is being treated for cancer at a hospital in Chennai. "Most people have to spend Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for treatment every month," C. Gallapa, an elder of the village. "But we cannot afford it." More than 200 bore wells in the village have been closed down under pressure from the authorities. The Rural Water Supply authorities also supplied water purifiers and installed a small de-fluorination plant. But these have had no effect and the water is still polluted. "Death rate in these villages is high," said the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO), Dr. M. Sonar Babu. Problem of plenty cripples village Ongole, Sept. 2: Like many other compounds, fluoride is good in small quantities and becomes harmful in large quantities. Doctors use fluoride in small quantities for the prevention of dental cavities in children. It is common practice to add very low concentrations of fluoride to tooth pastes and drinking water (less than 1ppm). But in the water consumed by people in Prakasam villages, the concentration of fluoride is about 60 to 70 ppm which is much above the permissible levels of 4 to 6 ppm. Besides this, levels of silicon, magnesium and Creatinine are also high in this water. Skeletal fluorosis, which has a crippling effect, occurs because of the deposit of fluoride in the bones. Apart from this, high concentrations of fluoride in water also cause teeth mottling, kidney diseases as well as malformation of bones in kids NIMS comes to the rescue Ongole, Sept. 2: A medicine called Menthomint made of sodium bicarbonate, ginger and menthol is giving good results in treatment of ailments caused by fluoride affected water, including kidney diseases and cancer at the early stages. The nodal centre of the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences is freely distributing the medicine to patients. One can also purchase the medicine at a mere four paisa per tablet. “Patients are advised to take one or three tablets according to the intensity of their ailments,” says Dr. Jaganmohan Rao, coordinator of NIMS nodal center at Santhanutalapadu. “If they start taking this medicine early on, it will have a good effect.” Mr K. Ramana, 35, who has been taking the medicine for his kidney ailment, said authorities should popularise it through campaigns. In fact, people in the fluoride hit villages have many good things to say about the NIMS nodal centre which has been giving them medical help freely. The centre has a mobile medical lab which roams the affected villages to conduct tests and prescribe treatment.