Peritoneal dialysis: Status report in South and South East Asia.

Background Peritoneal dialysis (PD) as a modality of kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is largely underutilized globally. We analyzed PD utilization, impact of economic status, projected growth and impact of state policy(s) on PD growth in South Asia and Southeast Asia (SAS the reason being lack of formal training/incentives and time constraints for the nephrologist while lack of reimbursement and poor general awareness of modalities has been a snag for the patients. The region expects ≥10% PD growth in the near future. Hong Kong and Thailand with 'PD first' policy have the highest PD utilization. Conclusion Important deterrents to PD underutilization were lack of PD centric policies, lackadaisical patient/physician's attitude, lack of structured patient awareness programs, formal training programs and affordability.