Metals in water up kidney risk in Punjab

Punjab: The high concentration of metals, especially cadmium and mercury, found in groundwater in Punjab has made the residents vulnerable to renal damage and is contributing to the increasing incidence of kidney failure.

Even as the Punjab Pollution Control Board has failed in checking industries, especially electroplating units, the crumbling health infrastructure has left the state machinery helpless in face of the crisis.

A highly worrying medical investigation by scientists at PGI has found the groundwater in the state contaminated with heavy metals.

According to a study report the presence of mercury in groundwater is 0.04mg/l in Ludhiana's Budha nallah, 0.19 in Amritsar's Hudiara nallah, 0.028 in Nawanshahr's East Bein which is far more than maximum permissible limit of 0.001mg/l. Metals found in vegetables too.

Little wonder that out patient departments of hospitals across the state are struggling to cope up with the increasing number of people reporting with renal damage.

"We are seeing at least 20 new patients on weekly basis", says Dr DC Aulakh, a renal transplant specialist at DMC, Ludhiana.

Even PGI is struggling to cope up with an ever increasing patient load from various parts of the state. Chief investigator of the damning study, JS Thakur of PGIs department of community medicine said, "Our two-year-long research has indicated that people are at risk of developing kidney problems since the concentration of heavy metals like cadmium, lead, mercury in groundwater is very high."

What worries health experts is the fact that the state is in the middle of a crisis as the number of people suffering from kidney failures is increasing and the infrastructure to deal with the disease is conspicuous by its absence.

"We have to travel 20 km to reach Amritsar for an X-ray", says a patient Kulwant Singh from Attari village.