Sapiens Health Foundation was started in the year 1997 with the idea of helping patients with kidney diseases. The foundation was started by donations from patients and has been effectively run by transplant patients. Initially the main focus was on providing subsidized dialysis and medications after transplantation.

From 2003 the foundation has been conducting awareness lectures in several institutions all over the country.

From 2005 we have been checking the urine for protein amongst college and school students in and around Chennai. The data has been published in the international journal of nephrology and Reno vascular disease.

The website sugarbp.org was launched in the year 2009. A booklet “Save Your Kidney. Only You Can” was also published in the same year and has been distributed to both lay people and health professionals throughout the country. The second edition of the book has been released in 2018.

From 2010 the salt reduction campaign was launched with various lectures and media propagation throughout the country. Several walkathons have also been conducted in different parts of the country.

An international conference on salt reduction was jointly held with IIT in Chennai and Mumbai. Prof. Graham MacGregor from the WASH and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan from the WHO took part in the conference.

The Notable Achievement Award for salt reduction by the World Hypertension League was received in 2014.

A book “Decrease Salt Increase Life” was published in 2018 and has been distributed throughout the country to health care professionals.

The foundation has been interacting with more than 300 food manufacturers to reduce salt in packed food.

Several documentaries have been produced relating to chronic kidney disease, early detection of kidney disease, acute kidney injury, ill effects of high salt consumption, peritoneal dialysis etc.

The Cystinosis Foundation of India (www.cystinosisindia.org) was started in 2012 with the view to help patients with cystinosis, a rare disease. The foundation provides health and information regarding the disease and ways to procure cysteamine which is not available in India. So far 46 children have been registered with the foundation and the report of the registry has been published in Rare Disease Journal of Europe and Indian Journal of Nephrology. Five of these cystinosis children have undergone successful renal transplantation and 15 children receive subsidized treatment from the foundation.

The world kidney day is also celebrated every year since 2010 with celebrities as chief guest and extensive press coverage to create awareness for kidney disease.

A very popular venture of the foundation is the humorous street plays in various socio economically backward tenements. 

 A unique project called the PD Assist Program was launched in 2015 to subsidize peritoneal dialysis so that patients can undergo home based therapy without disturbing their employment. This programme has been very successful covering Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The foundation is eligible for donations under 80G of income tax act and FCRA 2010. The foundation also qualifies for CSR activities under both prevention and treatment of Orphan Disease.