In a move that could well step forward for the healthcare in the country, a dialysis equipment manufacturing plant is being planned in the Maharashtra, India. For the first time, dialyzers, blood tubings, needles and other equipment required for hemodialysis will be manufactured in India itself instead of being imported or assembled.

The plant will come up in over 50 acres near Pune – Banglore highway in Satara district and the Rs 650 crore project will be handle. Maharashtra State Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has promised necessary facilities like land, water, electricity and infrastructure required for the completion.

"Maharashtra was chosen for the project because of its proximity to the port, infrastructure and availability of skilled manpower. This is not just a jump in healthcare as we also plan to generate employment among the rural areas of Satara by hiring around 1300 persons to work as technicians." Nipro India Director Mr Milind Pappu said.

Around 50 engineers have visited the Thailand and Japan centres of the firm in the past year to study the functioning of the plant. The construction work is expected to be completed by June 2012, after which the production of dialyzers will begin.

A dialyzer costs anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 600 now. "The price of dialyzers will drop appreciably as they will now produce in bulk and there will no tax and freight charges. We plan to make them available at all government and private hospitals across the country and we hope the government makes an efforts to make them tax free to increase affordability," Mr Milind Said.

A dialyzer is an artificial kidney that provides controllable transfer of solutes and water. In India, almost 10 lakh patients are in added annually. Currently India has around 1500 dialysis units that caters to approximately 60000 people.

"The cost factor is a major hurdle when it comes to renal treatment since the patient has to undergo at least three sessions a week. If this project can help production of dialysis equipment at cheaper cost, it will be a small yet important step forward in kidney treatment," Dr N K Hase, head of nephrology department at KEM Hospital, Said.