Hyderabad-based dialysis care network, NephroPlus, has urged policymakers to include Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) screening in India’s flagship National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD), as it released a white paper highlighting the rising burden of CKD across India and neighbouring countries.
Speaking at a media briefing in Hyderabad on Tuesday, NephroPlus Group CEO Rohit Singh said the findings of the white paper and a large-scale screening initiative make a strong case for integrating CKD testing, particularly serum creatinine and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), into existing government-led screenings for hypertension and diabetes. “The burden is silent but severe. CKD needs to be part of India’s NCD strategy immediately,” he said.
The paper is based on data from a kidney health screening campaign conducted in the lead-up to World Kidney Day in March. The campaign spanned 30 locations across India, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan, and covered 12 Indian States. A total of 10,501 persons pledged for kidney health awareness, of whom more than 5,000 underwent free serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) tests.
NephroPlus found that several Indian States reported high prevalence of CKD risk factors. Jharkhand topped the list, followed by Haryana and Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
NephroPlus co-founder Kamal D. Shah stressed the economic and emotional toll of dialysis. “Dialysis is not just a treatment; it is a lifelong ordeal that drains families physically, emotionally and financially. Our data shows that investing ₹1 in prevention saves ₹10 to ₹15 in future dialysis costs,” he said.
Published – July 09, 2025 01:22 am IST