Department of Nephrology and Transplantation Medicine Inception
Nephrology department is the oldest department of the institute. It existed as Nephrology section of the department of Medicine in the B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital of Ahmedabad. The Nephrology section had been assigned a 50 bed clinical unit in 1973.
Primarily it started as dialysis facility for patients with acute renal failure. Peritoneal and hemodialysis facilities which were in their very primitive form in Ahmedabad in those days were gradually upgraded in 1977. With time, the patient load kept on increasing and the facilities were improved upon.
This facility turned out to be the nucleus of the future Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Center and metamorphosed in to the Department of Nephrology and Transplantation Medicine by 1981.
The department started achieving excellence in areas of clinical nephrology, native renal biopsy program and services with addition of teaching program. Research has evolved well and successfully translated from bench to bedside.
Teaching programs under the banner of National Board of Examinations, New Delhi and Gujarat University were established in 1981. Every year 2 students have been enrolled in D.M. program under Gujarat University and 1 student under the D.N.B. program of National Board.
Thus the institute has gifted at least 64 Nephrologists to the country, 37 qualified as D.M. Nephrology and 27 with D.N.B. Nephrology. Some of them have been acclaimed as good Nephrologists overseas also. The old students of the institute are scattered across all the continents. We have a separate Paediatric Nephrology section in this department established in 1991.
At present the department has 2 clinical units with 60 beds in each unit and 12 residents totally. There is an active teaching program in the institute and we have students coming from all over the country to take advantage of this program. Approximately 7000 new patients and 10100 old patients are treated annually; 5300 new patients are admitted every year.