The National Medical Commission (NMC) has directed all medical colleges to strictly implement the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Portal to cater to the needs of patients who need expensive dialysis services. With this major move, the union government has aimed at expanding the coverage of the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PM-NDP) with the provision of free dialysis services to the poor in all the states and UTs.

Dr Sandhya Bhullar, Secretary, NMC, told all medical colleges in communication that all medical colleges (both private and government) which are promoting dialysis services are directed to use the PMNDP portal to provide smooth delivery of necessary dialysis services to every patient having a unique AHBA ID (UHID) and to improve visibility and have a uniform IT platform for capturing details of all the beneficiaries. She further added in her letter that the portal is fully functional and well-established. If any training is required to operate the said portal, it will be organised by the National Health System Resource Centre (NHSRC).

Dr Anup Kumar, head of the urology and kidney transplant department at Safdarjung Hospital, stated that in India, around 200,000 people suffer from kidney-related complications every year, but only 10,000 patients get donors while the rest of the patients sustain through dialysis, which costs approximately 1 lakh in private centres every month. He claimed that the government’s dialysis programme is going to help thousands of patients every year get dialysis free of cost in government hospitals and at subsidised rates in private hospitals.

A government official aware of the matter explained that to ensure smooth operation of the national dialysis program, states have been advised to extensively use the PMNDP portal, which is an API-based IT platform for capturing details of all beneficiaries availing of free dialysis services. to prevent duplication and ensure transparency, efficiency, and interoperability.