Uddanam Foundation comes to service of CKD patients in Andhra Pradesh amid COVID-19 lockdown

SRIKAKULAM: CKD patients have been shifted more than 1,800 times to dialysis centres during the COVID-19 lockdown from various villages of Ichchapuram, Kaviti, Kanchili and Sompeta mandals.

Uddanam Foundation, run by DCMS chairman Piriya Sairaj, has deployed two ambulances for transporting the CKD patients to the dialysis centres. With the suspension of public transport, many CKD patients depended on the Uddanam Foundation service. 

There are two dialysis centres in Ichchapuram assembly segment — Sompeta and Kaviti with 18 and 15 beds respectively. More than 220 CKD patients are undergoing dialysis at both the centres.  Dialysis patients in remote villages have faced troubles in reaching the dialysis centres. Foundation chairperson Piriya Vijaya, speaking to TNIE, said that they had started ambulance services to the Uddanam people about 4 years ago. 

“We used to ferry patients to Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam in AP and Berhampur and Bhubaneswar in Odisha during emergencies free of cost. The ambulance services have been limited to the Uddanam people, particularly for dialysis patients, ever since the lockdown was enforced. We provide round-the-clock ambulance services. We pick up  the patients at their doorstep and drop them back after the dialysis,” she added.  Patients can call at 8978231999 and 9989777779 to avail free ambulance service, Vijaya added.