ISN honours President for fight against CKDu

President Maithripala Sirisena was presented a special award by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) recognising his commitment and the government’s dedication in preventing Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka.

ISN Secretary General, Prof Mrs Adheera Levin presented the award on Tuesday to the President at a ceremony held at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo.

ISN, a global body dedicated to advancing the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of kidney diseases worldwide, commended Sri Lanka’s fight against the disease which commonly affects the rural poor.

Accepting his award, President Sirisena noted that the Government has a long journey to go, to save the , poor, innocent people of the country, who are faced with this dreaded disease over the past two decades.

President Sirisena too, presented an award to Mrs Adheera Levin, in recognition of her contribution at the international level, to prevent CKDu in Sri Lanka. Awards were also presented to Consultant Physicians Dr Thilak Abeysekera and Dr Abraham, and Presidential Task Force on Prevention of CKDu, Project Director, Asela Iddawela, in recognition of their dedicated service towards the prevention of CKDu in Sri Lanka.

The community screening for CKDu, done by the Ministry of Health, in the 60 affected Divisional Secretaries up to December last year, revealed that, there are 20,828 patients in those areas.

The Presidential Task Force for prevention of CKDu prepared a three-year national plan for the prevention of CKDu, with the collaboration of all the relevant Ministries, departments, various governmental and non governmental organisations.