Aug 31, Colombo: Chief of Sri Lanka's North Central Province Renal Diseases Prevention Unit Asanga Ranasinghe says that a programme is underway to map the renal diseases and patients using GPS technology.

He said the programme aims to create a database that can be used to formulate measures related to the prevalence of renal diseases in Sri Lanka's agricultural region.

Accordingly, the 37 Village Officer areas of the Medawchchiya electorate are to be mapped first. This is the area where the renal diseases are spread mostly.

The program has identified 2,600 renal patients from Medawchchiya electorate to be recorded. The highest number of 237 kidney patients was from a small village of Mahadivulweva Village Officer area.

The exact cause of the high prevalence rate of chronic kidney disease leading to end stage renal failure has not been identified. However, the researchers and health officials suspect environmental factors and water quality.

According to Health Ministry statistics, 1,599 kidney patients had died in the North Central Province during the past seven years. Male farmers who spend most of the time in the paddy fields are the most affected, statistics have shown.