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Dialysis service provider NephroPlus is set to begin its international journey in 2018. It is firming up its first venture in one of the developing countries in South Asia, Africa or West Asia.
Having established a network of 129 centres across 83 locations in 18 States, the Hyderabad-based specialised healthcare firm is ready for take off into the next phase of big growth, according to Vikram Vuppala, Founder-CEO.
The company is adequately capitalised to meet its expansion plans.
In August 2016, it had raised ₹100 crore from the World Bank and BS Capital and is a profit-making business now, he told BusinessLine . In the immediate year, NephroPlus will open 16 dialysis centres. By end 2018 “we should reach 145 centres in 90 locations in 19 States,” Vikram said.
The focus will be to reach smaller towns and cities.
The Vision 2022 or growth target for the next five years is to reach the 300-mark in centres, maximum States and at least five countries, he said.
A typical NeproPlus dialysis centre will have about 10 dialysis units and calls for an investment of up to ₹1 crore.
Dialysis study Since 2010, when it launched the first centre in Hyderabad, NephroPlus has steadily moved into tier 1, II, III cities.
With a spike in the incidence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and increased cases of chronic kidney disease, the need for dialysis is expected to grow.
Giving an idea of the problem he cited a recent survey done by NephroPlus across the country in their 129 centres which revealed that only 30 per cent of the patients who got dialysis done were women. In comparison, the figure for the US is 43 per cent.
This clearly shows that when it came to spending on basic healthcare in a family there was a gender disparity. Females are generally given second priority.
Rural locations were still heavily biased against females (26 per cent) compared to semi-urban (29 per cent) and urban areas (33 per cent).
To promote awareness, the company recently conducted the Indian Dialysis Olympiad, a sporting event for people on dialysis along with a dialysis-patient bike expedition.
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