In an unusual case, the doctors at the Rajasthan hospitals here have removed a whopping 728 stones from the right kidney of a male patient.

     "The X-ray had shown a big cluster of stones but when we operated were surprised to find the organ chock-a -block with stones of defferent shapes and sizes. The stones just kept tumbling out and the staff was busy counting for two hours." the operatiing surgeon urologist Dileep Shah told TNN.

     "There are medical cases of 180-190 stones being removed from the kidney nut removakl of over 700 sotnes from one kidney is a rare surgical feat", said Dr Anil Chaddha, medical director of the hospital.

     Interestingly, Mangilal Jain, 50, was diagnosed with stones in the kidney alomost 25 years back. But he ignored the ailment until he began gettting pain.

     "Usually, non-invasive techniques like lithotripsy, wherein stones are blasted by shock waves and removed from the system, are popular for stone removal, but it would not have been possible to remove such a big cluster of stones," said Dr Shah.

     Dr Shah explained that people in Gujarat, Rajasthan and punjab are more prone to kidney stones. In gujarat, the problem is aggravated because of the poor quality of water adn the dry weather.

    Water in Gujarat has a high content of heavy salts. Besides a large amount of water is lost through perspiration due to the dry weather. People are not used to drinking water at regular intervals to replenish the depleting water content of the body. "One of the simplest way to stay away from kidney stones is to drink as much water as possible.