 Hi, I am Dr. Sudarshan Balal, Chairman of Manipal Hospitals. I am a trained nephrologist being in the field for almost four decades and taking care of patients with kidney disease is my passion. Kidneys are two silent organs, bean shaped about 150 grams each in the upper portion of the back and most people did not even know what the kidneys do till recently. The kidneys are two very important organs that get rid of the waste products but they also have many other functions. They control your blood pressure, they get rid of the waste products, they secrete hormones like erythropoietin, activated vitamin D3, so on and so forth required for your health. Most people do not know how to check their kidney function. They are very aware of what a blood sugar is, what a blood pressure is, what their cholesterol is but if you ask someone what is their kidney function they would not have an answer. So we have device something called a kidney number which is a reflection of how well your kidney is functioning. It is based on a chemical called serum creatin which accumulates in the body if your kidneys do not function and based on your age, gender, weight so on and so forth we can come up with a kidney number which will tell you how well your kidneys are functioning.