NephroPlus to double dialysis centres in India by 2020

HYDERABAD: Dialysis provider NephroPlus plans to have 300 dialysis centres in the country by 2020, up from 125 centres now. According to the company, there is tremendous scope for dialysis services in India given the widening gap between demand and supply. With the government sector not being able to meet the rising demand for this life-saving service, there is acute shortage of quality service.

And, quality is critical in this highly specialised sector. In this context, the private sector's role is more important now than ever. And, established players like NephroPlus play a major role in providing quality healthcare in this specialised arena.

"There is a huge gap between demand and supply for dialysis centres in the country. There is also acute shortage for nephrologists. While this offers a big opportunity, it also places responsibility on us. "Right now, we have about 125 centres across 18 states.

We will add another 25-30 centres by end of FY18 and set up 300 centres by 2020," Vikram Vuppala, founder and CEO of NephroPlus, told Express. While the segment offers opportunity for companies in the sector to scale, it also poses challenges in terms sufficient availability of qualified and trained professionals.

"Scale matters most in this segment and we need to set up dialysis centres with about 10 dialysis units for the centre to get viable. About `1 crore is needed just for setting up. Also, we might face shortage of nephrologists as we grow further over the next two to three years, though it is not an issue now.

However, being a market leader in this segment gives us an edge and enable us to grow at a robust pace," pointed out the firm's founder and CEO. NephroPlus grew at about 60 per cent in FY17 and it hopes to expand at the rate of 70 per cent this year. This figure is way above the segment's growth rate of 35-40 per cent. Of its total centres in India, NephroPlus operates about 35 centres in PPP mode with Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments and organisations like Singareni Collieries Company Limited.