Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 27, 2015 - Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has partnered with India’s Sandor Medicaids to provide improved access to quality dialysis care for all the patients in the country, and at the same time maintain affordability for the poor. The project will meet the increasing demand for quality dialysis treatment in the country.

Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) is one of the leading non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh and it is estimated to affect potentially 10% of the population. CKD is a chronic progressive disease ultimately leading to end stage renal disease (ESRD) which compels the patient to depend on either dialysis or any other form of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for survival. There is a rise in number of kidney diseases in Bangladesh, and about 40,000 people die each year due to kidney diseases. Since, the dialysis treatment is required by a patient 2 to 3 times in a week for the rest of life, its recurring cost is not affordable to people of low socio-economic status. Currently, GoB provides dialysis at a subsidized costs but the availability of services is not continuous due to various operational and staffing issues. There are only about 650 dialysis machines in the country which can only treat about 8.0% of patients with end stage kidney disease. So, GoB took this initiative for increasing the capacity of dialysis unit facility in the country and also improving the quality of services with the help of private sector participation. The GoB has selected two existing dialysis centres located in government hospitals, namely, National Institute of Kidney Disease (NIKDU) in Dhaka, and Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in Chittagong, to launch a pilot PPP project. The demonstration of the viability of this project under a PPP model will lead to replication in other hospitals in Bangladesh.

The project envisages setting up of at least 80-110 dialysis stations at the two hospitals by the private partner which is an increase of around 13% of the overall current government capacity. GoB will provide the space, utilities and nephrologists at the two centers. The private partner will design, rehabilitate, renovate, procure, install equipment, finance and maintain the operations of the dialysis centers for a concession period of 10 years. The private operator will also employ and maintain all staff other than nephrologists within the dialysis units. The existing centers will be decommissioned before handover to the private operator. The staff currently working at the centers will be re-allocated to other departments within the hospital. The total estimated capital expenditure of the project is over BDT 20 crores. Sandor Medicaids Private Limited, a company based in India has been awarded the project.

This is the first health PPP project in Bangladesh and it has been featured as a ‘pioneering project’ in this year’s 100 infrastructure projects in KPMG World markets report. The development of the project will address the shortage of dialysis services in the country, maintain affordability for the poor and provide improved access to quality dialysis care for all the patients who are going to be treated at the new dialysis centers at the two Government hospitals. The average cost to poor patients for a dialysis session will decrease by more than half. The project will result in increase of number of dialysis sessions at the two hospitals by about 8 times; number of subsidized dialysis sessions provided to poor patients will increase by 33%; dialysis services provided to the general public will be at a cost lower than most private hospitals; services will be available round the clock services; and finally the operation & maintenance of the equipment and staffing is the entire responsibility of the private operator. This project in the long run will be a win-win situation for the poor patients, general patients, the Government and the private operator.