More Australians are expected to be added to the number of patients suffering from chronic kidney ailments. According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) forecast released Wednesday, the proportion of diabetics who would require kidney transplants or dialysis would shoot up to 64 per cent in 2020 from 45 per cent in 2008.

For the same period, the AIHW predicts the number of Australians who would need treatment for end-stage kidney disease would jump by up to 80 percent to 4,300 people in the next 10 years.

The rise in their numbers is partly because of the graying population and more Australians being diagnosed with diabetes and one of its complications - renal disease.

Kidney Health Australia (KHA) Medical Director Tim Matthew urged more blood and urine tests for Australians to check kidney function of diabetics to ensure early detection and better management of the ailment.

"We would call on the government to look at these projections which are alarming at best and will double the number of people coming on to dialysis programs within the next 10 to 15 years," Mr Matthew told AAP.

He explained that kidney diseases often do not exhibit particular symptoms, so people with the ailment will have to look for the symptoms and upon confirmation put in place a program of management which determines the pace of the illness' progression.

Diabetes is the number one cause of end-stage renal disease in Australia and New Zealand among patients waiting for kidney transplant. It overtook in 2004 glomerulonephritis, which is another kidney disease characterized by the inflammation of the kidney's small blood vessels.

With the growing number of renal patients, KHA forecast cost of treating chronic kidney diseases to also rise and reach $1.9 billion in 2020 from $1.2 billion in 2010.