Made-in-India dialysis unit undergoes trials in Mysuru

BENGALURU: A team of city-based researchers have come up with a

made-in-India

dialysis machine, which is expected to reduce cost of the medical procedure.

Designed by Renalyx Health Systems, the machine, RxT17, started undergoing clinical trials at JSS Medical College Hospital, Mysuru, from March 2. A 40-year-old renal disorder patient was the first to undergo dialysis on the new machine.

Dialysis machines are now imported from Germany, Sweden and China at a cost of 10-11 lakh a piece. A dialysis session costs between 2,500 and 4,000. The new machine is likely to be priced at Rs 4 lakh and it could reduce the cost of dialysis to 1,000.

The machine is cloud-enabled and can be connected to a mobile app, so that nephrologists can monitor its functioning and the patient's response from anywhere.

" There are only 1,400 nephrologists in India and only 200 in Karnataka. There is a need to bridge the gap between patients and doctors through technological intervention. We can take the new dialysis machine to rural areas too, given its ability to connect seamlessly and its capacity to run on solar power. Such features are not available in dialysis machines imported from Japan, the US and Germany," says

Shyam Vasudev Rao

, an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) alumnus and founder-chairman of Renalyx.

Work on the machine began in 2013, driven by the vision to "create innovative and inclusive solutions for comprehensive renal care."

Dr

Lloyd Vincent

, a nephrologist and co-founder of Renalyx, said the objective was to reduce the cost. "We have a project monitoring committee with alumni from Bombay and Delhi IITs as well as AIIMS, Delhi. The clinical trials are going on successfully. The product has been funded by the department of science and technology, New Delhi," he said.

The company has patents and active collaborations with premier institutions, including IIT Kharagpur, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and PESIT in Bengaluru.

Given the rising cost of healthcare, any innovation which brings down expenses is a huge relief for patients and their families. The clinical trials of a new dialysis machine are currently under way and once available for wider use, they promise to bring down the cost of treatment by a big margin. Such innovative research should be encouraged by the government through subsidies and tax breaks so that these machines become available in smaller towns and cities too. Innovative low-cost medical equipment is the need of the hour.