New Delhi, March 17 -- In India, the burden of diabetic kidney disease is increasing rapidly due to the high and rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), about 25-30% of people with diabetes in India develop some degree of kidney damage.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Rajiv Kovil, Head of Diabetology at Zandra Healthcare and Co-Founder of Rang De Neela Initiative, claimed, "Early identification of kidney disease in diabetes is crucial to delay its progression to kidney failure and most people with kidney disease in diabetes eventually die of heart disease."

He explained, "Podocytes are specialised cells in the kidney's tissue, which is called the glomerular, which ...