Healthcare provider Nephro Care India, where former HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh is an investor, is developing a prototype of a remotely-monitored AI-enabled smart haemodialysis machine to make renal care more accessible and affordable.

The Kolkata-based company, which has received a grant from the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, West Bengal, is collaborating with the National Institute of Technology, Silchar to develop the prototype.

Once ready, it is likely to bring down the cost of these machines to ₹2 lakh from the current ₹7.5-8 lakh, Nephro Care India (NCIL) said in a release on Monday.

According to Dr Pratim Sengupta, Founder and MD & CEO, Nephro Care India, currently a majority of the haemodialysis machines in India are imported and hence the cost is significantly higher. Indigenous manufacturing of these machines can bring down cost thereby translating into lower cost of treatment for patients suffering from advanced renal failure.

Haemodialysis machine filters wastes, salts and fluids from the blood of a person whose kidneys are not healthy enough to do this work efficiently.

The prototype, which is being developed, will enable distant monitoring of these machines thereby making dialysis more accessible and affordable in the semi-urban and rural locations.

Commenting on the development, Sengupta said NCIL was among the first private sector players to have received the state government grant for developing the prototype of haemodialysis machine in India.

“At Nephro Care, it has been our constant endeavour to make renal care more affordable and accessible to masses and this is a significant step in that direction. We are hopeful of developing the prototype in the next 7-8 months post which it will be subject to various levels of testing. Once ready, we believe it can significantly bring down the cost of dialysis and make renal care accessible in the rural and semi-urban markets of the country,” he said.

NCIL, which successfully completed its initial public offering (IPO) earlier this year, has recently inaugurated a 100-bed multispecialty hospital — Vivacity Multispecialty Hospital — in Kolkata at an estimated investment of ₹36.51 crore.

Founded in 2014 by Sengupta, one of the leading nephrologists in India, the institution provides comprehensive medical services for renal patients.