Tamilnad Kidney Research (TANKER) Foundation, a non-profit charitable organisation, organised a fundraiser marathon to prevent kidney diseases among Chennai city police.
K. Jayanth Murali, Director General of Police (Idol Wing CID) ran a full marathon of 50 km inside the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to raise funds for purchasing BP machines for all police stations in the State. Mr. Murali said the organisation had approached him and he felt the need to do it for his fellow personnel. He had earlier raised funds for dialysis machines for the Foundation.
Institute Dean Koshy Varghese suggested that TANKER Foundation conduct awareness programme for students and staff of the institute. Foundation trustee Georgi Abraham said each policeman could record their BP on a daily basis at the station and if it was consistently high, corrective measures could be taken after consultation with doctors. The Foundation’s managing trustee Latha Kumaraswami thanked police personnel, who she said were angels who worked alongside frontline workers.
Till date, TANKER has done 4.9 lakh dialysis through 12 units. It has conducted awareness programmes for over 1.9 lakh people and screened over 35000 persons for the early detection of kidney disease.