India has only 1500 qualified nephrologists for a country of 1.35 billion people, we need at least about 20,000 nephrologists said the Telangana Governor Tamilisai. She was speaking at a Medicalconference here in Hyderabad.
I was told the prevalence of end-stage renal disease in India is estimated to be between 151 and 232 per million populations the Governor said. The health care systems cannot meet the growing need for renal replacement therapy/dialysis.
But, I was told, ever since the local manufacturing has been introduced in India, the price of Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) has significantly declined and is now cheaper than Haemodialysis (HD).
Please understand most of the patients cannot sustain the high cost and default within few months of start of therapy. As such I humbly appeal to the expert doctors assembled here, apart from treating kidney disease, the experts will deliberate on how to address these issues and make treatment more affordable.
Treatments to delay onset of the need for dialysis, especially diabetics, are being implemented and home treatment of kidney failure is to be popularised. I also request the distinguished experts to deliberate active measures to be taken up to train more number of nephrologists, prevention of the disease, in addition to newer treatments at reduced costs.
Hope and believe this 37th Congress of the International Society of Blood Purification would deliver excellent healthcare for the common man at affordable costs and stress on measures to prevent kidney disease.
I wish the Conference all success and I am sure your stay in the historic city of Hyderabad will be memorable both in academics and visiting the many tourist attractions of this 430-year-old city.
