Division of Pediatric Nephrology
The pediatric nephrology service in ICH Kolkata was initiated by Late Prof (Dr) G.K. Mehrotra in 1986. What started as an outpatient facility has now grown into one of the leading pediatric nephrology centres in Eastern India. Currently, the department is a 16 bedded unit with additional 3 beds for hemodialysis and 1 bed in PICU earmarked for children requiring acute kidney support therapies. Led by a team of four specialized clinicians, adedicated support staff of twenty-four along with multidisciplinary inputs from other subspecialities in the institute, the division provides comprehensive pediatric nephrology services ranging from specialized clinics and kidney biopsies to advanced life-support therapies like CKRT and SLED. With a full team of technicians, nurses, and coordinators, we offer round-the-clock expert care for children with all kinds of kidney diseases.
Faculty
| Sl. No | Name | Reg. No. | Designation | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prof. (Dr) Rajiv Sinha | WBMC 51866 | Professor and HOD | MBBS, MD Pediatrics, CCT Pediatric Nephrology |
| 2 | Prof (Dr) Shakil Akhtar | WBMC 59768 | Professor | MBBS, MD Pediatrics |
| 3 | Dr. Deblina Dasgupta | WBMC 68526 | Assistant Professor | MBBS, MD Pediatrics, FNB Pediatric Nephrology |
| 4 | Dr. Sanjukta Poddar | WBMC 71067 | Assistant Professor | MBBS, MD Pediatrics, FISPN |
Support Staff
i. Dialysis Technologist
- Mr. Animesh Roy
- Mr. Sanjib Nayak
- Mr. Pritam Samanta
- Mr. Dinesh Jana
ii. Departmental and Research Coordinator – Ms. Adrita Saha
iii. Research Assistants
- Ms. Tiasha Samanta
- Ms. Shweta Naskar
- Ms. Progga Biswas
- Ms. Sajma Khatoon
iv. Dietitian – Ms. Ria Kayal
v. Nurses
- Mrs. Manika Mondal
- Mrs. Anjali Purkait
- Mrs. Alpana Dey Sarkar
- Mrs. Manimala Dhara
- Mrs. Jayeeta Gayen
- Mrs. Subhra Bera
- Mrs. Debashree Das
- Ms. Pallabi Rudra
- Ms. Subhra Kirtaniya
- Ms. Proma Dutta
- Ms. Salviya Kazi
- Ms. Gunjana Adhikari
- Ms. Piu Samanta
- Mr. Koustav Sarkar
Services Provided
- No. of beds – 16
- No of dialysis beds – 3
- Intermittent hemodialysis
- SLED
- CKRT
- Therapeutic plasma exchange
- Kidney biopsy
- Kidney transplant
Clinical load of last 1 year
i. IPD admissions–2427
ii. Bed occupancy – 95.6%
iii. OPD – 480
iv. HD–2026
v. SLED – 101
vi. Vascular catheter insertion - 31
vii. Acute PD – 22; New chronic PD - 3
viii. CRRT – 3
xi. Kidney Biopsy – 81
x. Therapeutic plasma exchange – 13
xi. Kidney transplantation – 3, pre-kidney transplantation work up -6, post kidney transplantation follow up - 7
Fellowship programme
The department has been running a year fellowship course for paediatricians under the aegis of the Indian Society of Pediatric Nephrology from the year 2015. Six pediatricians have completed their training so far, their details provided as below:
| Serial No | Name | Year of Training | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr Biplab Maji | 2015 | 9433666809 |
| 2 | Dr Niladri Bose | 2021 | 9875312569 |
| 3 | Dr Sanjukta Poddar | 2022 | 9871093139 |
| 4 | Dr Deepsikha Baranwal | 2023 | 8765408188 |
| 5 | Dr Suchismita Saha | 2024 | 9830787929 |
| 6 | Dr Rifah Khan | 2025 | 7835843525 |
Academic proficiency
The department has its own robust academic programme schedule withtwice weekly academic meetings including a visiting faculty lecture once every month. It engages in active research in the field of pediatric nephrology and publications from the last one year (2025) are given as below:
Publication 2025
1. Poddar S, Dasgupta D, Subal Pradhan 2, Sangeetha Perungo 3, Mahesh Janarthanan 4, Kinnari Vala 5, Priya Pais 6, Susan Uthup 7, Jyoti Singhal 8, Suparna Guha 9, Sumantra Raut 10, Shakil Akhtar 1, Bathia J, Balan S, Pal P, Sinha R; On behalf, of the Indian pSLE Nephritis consortium. Clinical presentation of children with lupus nephritis from a low- and middle-income country (LMIC): an initial report from the Indian pSLE Nephritis Registry. Clin Rheumatol. 2025 Jul 16. doi: 10.1007/s10067-025-07576-9.
2. Karmakar S, Dasgupta D, Akhtar S, Poddar S, Giri PP, Tse Y, Sinha R. Progression of acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease: a prospective cohort study. Pediatr Nephrol. 2025 May 21. doi: 10.1007/s00467-025-06810-5.
3. Bonilla-Felix M, Raina R, Düzova A, Sinha R, Antwi S, Bjornstad EC, Ishikura K. Disaster preparedness and kidney health in children.Pediatr Nephrol. 2025 Feb 4. doi: 10.1007/s00467-025-06693-6.
4. Sinha R, Noh L, Sethi SK, Safadi R, Smith S , Düzova A, Bjornstad EC, Antwi S, Ishikura K, Salgia E, Koch V, Topaloglu R , Bonilla-Felix M, McCulloch M, Raina R. Pediatric kidney replacement therapies in low-to-middle income countries: a review and white paper. Pediatr Nephrol. 2025 May 14. doi: 10.1007/s00467-025-06800-7.
5. Gupta A, Jayasinghe K, Majmundar A, Mann N, Sinha R, Sampson MG, Quinlan C. Next-generation nephrology: part 2-mainstreaming genomics in nephrology, a global perspective. Pediatr Nephrol. 2025 Sep;40(9):2779-2793. doi: 10.1007/s00467-025-06711-7. Epub 2025 Feb 28.
6. Gupta A, Jayasinghe K, Majmundar A, Mann N, Sinha R, Sampson MG, Quinlan C. Next-generation nephrology: part 1-an aid for genetic and genomic testing in pediatric nephrology. Pediatr Nephrol. 2025 Sep;40(9):2759-2777. doi: 10.1007/s00467-025-06692. Epub 2025 Feb 13.
Ongoing Research Projects
1. Progression of Acute Kidney Injury to Acute Kidney Disease and Chronic Kidney Disease in Critically Ill Children from a Developing Country: A Prospective Cohort Study.
2. Indian Prospective Paediatric SLE Nephritis Registry.
3. Risk factors contributing to cardiovascular morbidity in Pediatric Lupus Nephritis- A pilot study.
4. Ambulatory blood pressure nomograms derivation for children of Indian origin and understanding their trajectory deviation from other preselected ethnic groups: A pioneer study in Indian context.
5. Mycophenolate Mofetil as a Maintenance Immunosuppressant after Rituximab in Steroid Dependent or Frequently Relapsing Nephrotic Syndromes Multicentre Randomized Controlled Trial.
6. Genotype-Phenotype Correlation in Indian Children with Alport Syndrome: Retrospective Multicenter Study.
7. Vascular Access Practices in Children on maintenance Haemodialysis.
8. Induction Immunosuppression Practices for Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients in India.
9. Clinical and Genetic Profile of Monogenic Primary Steroid Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome in Children: A Multi Centre Retrospective Study.
ISN-SRC programme
The department runs a sister renal programme with the Birmingham Children’s Hospital in UK meant for improving the quality of care provided in the fields of nephrogenetics and renal nutrition. This is a prestigious program which is supported by International Society of Nephrology. As part of this program regular online CMEs and yearly staff exchanges happen with the objective of improving research output as well as patient outcome.
Events conducted in last 1 year
We conducted 3rd Annual Nephrogenetic update and 2nd Annual ICH update on 26-27th October 2025; 2nd annual ICH Hemodialysis Update for dialysis technologists on 18th January 2026, and the Acute Care Nephrology Workshop on 16th January 2026, one of the preconference workshops ofthe annual national pediatric conference PEDICON 2026. Distinguished by the presence of renowned national and international experts, the sessions saw vibrant, active participation from all delegates