Dr Sunil Prakash did his MBBS in 1982 and MD in Internal Medicine in 1986 from GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, India. India is the future diabetic capital of the world, and every year two lakh new patients of advanced kidney failure are diagnosed. These appalling statistics encouraged him to prepare for the DM Nephrology entrance examination. He was selected in the inaugural year batch of DM Nephrology in 1993 from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He was awarded an International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis fellowship from Toronto Western Hospital, Canada, in 2000. Subsequently, he trained at the University of Columbia, Missouri, USA to earn an International Society of Nephrology fellowship in 2002. In India, he was awarded FIACM, Fellow of the Indian Academy of Clinical Medicine, and FISN, Fellow of the Indian Society of Nephrology, in 2006.[2]
He joined Northern Railway Central Hospital, New Delhi, in October 1986. There he established the first fully functional Nephrology and Dialysis center. Being the first and only nephrologist on Indian Railways at that time, he was responsible for providing total renal care to lakhs of serving and retired railway men and their beneficiaries for two decades. [3] He pioneered renal transplantation services and single-handedly provided home dialysis to all kidney failure patients, resulting in saving exchequer money by reducing dialysis referrals to outside hospitals. For this, he received the General Manager award in 1996. In May 2007, he joined Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon and established a state-of-the-art dialysis and transplant centre. The first legal kidney transplant in the state of Haryana, sans Chandigarh, was carried out successfully in 2009. He was invited to establish transplant services at Dr. BL Kapur Memorial Hospital, New Delhi in February 2012. There, his team performed the first medico-legal brain-dead cadaveric transplant, which saved three lives. Today, BLK performs the most complicated transplants, such as ABO incompatible and highly HLA antigenic kidney transplants.
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He has given more than 500 talks, radio programs, and TV shows to educate people on the preventive aspects of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and kidney diseases.[5][6][7][8][9]
Dr. Sunil Prakash
He has mentored postgraduate doctors for DNB Medicine and Nephrology degrees over the last 25 years. He has published more than 40 research papers in national and international journals. He was the editor of the first textbook for dialysis technicians in 2003 and was editor of the DNS Newsletter from 2006 to 2012. He was awarded a best paper award at the International ESPEN conference in Glasgow, USA in 2003 for slowing kidney disease by dietary modification and ketoanalogue supplementation. He presented his innovative surgical technique in inserting a CAPD catheter at the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis conference in Amsterdam in 2004. He developed a simplified surgical technique of making life-saving fistulas for dialysis patients, which was presented at the European Renal Association annual congress in Madrid, Spain in 2017. He delivered an oration address on slowing kidney diseases at the annual conference of the Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism in Mumbai in September 2018.[10]
Pushpawati Memorial Charitable Trust and Satyaraj National Kidney Care Foundation paper
He is running a charitable trust after his grandmother, namely Pushpawati Memorial Charitable Trust, in Haridwar since 1992. The trust provides assistance to socially, financially, and medically challenged people. Currently, it is providing full financial support to children from families living on footpaths and slums at Pankh School in Rishikesh. In 2008, Satyaraj National Kidney Care Foundation was formed, which disseminates knowledge about disease prevention. It also provides assistance to patients suffering from kidney failure. It celebrates World Kidney Day in March every year to disseminate knowledge about diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. To stop organ trade, it promotes organ donation before death. It conducts health camps for diagnosing asymptomatic, non-communicable disease burdens. His wife, Dr Smita Prakash, is a brilliant academician and senior consultant anesthesiologist at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, and has been by his side in all his endeavors. His single-minded professional aim is to reduce the crippling burden of lifestyle diseases by spreading the importance of preventive nephrology and providing ethical, cost-effective transplant services in India. This will be of immense help in eliminating illegal organ trade and the exploitation of the poor.
Railway Profile
Contribution of the nominee/achievements
He established Nephrology, Dialysis, and Kidney transplantation services at Railway Hospital, New Delhi. This benefitted lakhs of ailing railway beneficiaries across India. He mastered the fine art of microvascular surgery in making fistulas, which are the lifelines of dialysis patients and ensure long-term, safe hemodialysis for them. He performed more than 1500 such surgeries at Railway Hospital. He has established successful dialysis and transplant centers in both public and private hospitals, thus extending the penetration of renal care in society.
He discovered a new gene locus causing kidney diseases and published it in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology in 2004, besides many other original articles and papers in national and international journals. There was a resurgence of faith in the delivery of healthcare in the railway ecosystem. Disseminating his knowledge has been his passion, and he has been a postgraduate teacher and examiner for the DNB degree over the last 25 years, and many of his students have trained and subsequently excelled in their careers both at home and abroad. He has helped distraught and ailing fellow men through his charitable organization. His passion for his patients has been his dharma all his life.
He established the first fully functional Nephrology and Dialysis center at Northern Railway Central Hospital, New Delhi, which is an apex referral hospital for nearly six lakh railway beneficiaries and a large number of retired railway men. He performed microvascular surgeries and created AV fistulas, which enabled them to get safe dialysis on a long-term basis. Being the first and only nephrologist on Indian Railways at that time, he was responsible for providing total renal care to lakhs of serving and retired railway men and their beneficiaries for two decades. He pioneered renal transplantation services and single-handedly provided home peritoneal dialysis to kidney failure patients, resulting in saving exchequer money by reducing dialysis referrals to outside hospitals. He designed new surgical techniques for making bedside fistulas in the dialysis unit. His original papers received international awards and travel grants. He has been teaching and guiding the theses of his postgraduate students.[12]
His research on slowing kidney disease by modifying diet and adding ketoanalogues has resulted in delaying dialysis initiation. This has huge economic and psychological benefits. He has been called to talk about his work in many Asian countries. Recently, he performed the first renal transplant in Tanzania and has been training their doctors in performing kidney transplantation in their own country.[13][14]
Contribution to the society
He is running a charitable trust after his grandmother, namely the Pushpawati Memorial Charitable Trust in Haridwar since 1992.[15] The trust does not receive any external support and is run by internal means to provide assistance to socially, financially, and medically challenged people. It is providing financial support to children from families living on footpaths and slums for studying at Pankh School in Rishikesh. In 2008, the Satyaraj Foundation was formed, which disseminates knowledge about disease prevention and also provides assistance to patients suffering from kidney failure. It celebrates World Kidney Day in March every year to spread knowledge about diabetes, obesity, blood pressure, and kidney disease. It promotes cadaveric organ donation. It conducts health camps for diagnosing asymptomatic disease burdens. Nearly 8.5 percent of people are suspected to have some form of kidney disease. He has given more than 500 talks, radio programs, and TV shows to educate people on the preventive aspects of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and kidney diseases. His talks inform about the right diet, benefits of regular exercise, and lifestyle modifications. Avoidance of excess of 5 Ss—Salt, Sugar, Smoking, Stress, and Sedentary lifestyles—is his most quoted line. He has promoted cadaveric organ donation, which prevents organ trade and the exploitation of the poor. [16]
