Cuttack: First ECMO treatment at SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack city was initiated last night.
Reportedly, a critically ill Covid-19 patient from Nischintakoili area was admitted to the hospital after complaining of breathlessness. She was later put on ECMO support.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday inaugurated eastern India’s largest ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) facility in Cuttack for providing free treatment to critically ill Covid patients.
Critical Covid-19 patients in Odisha now won’t need to be airlifted to places like Calcutta or Hyderabad for the costly but crucial ECMO treatment.
ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) machines are used for the treatment of critically ill Covid patients, who can’t survive without continued ventilator support due to severe lung damage. It is also required for the treatment of patients with post-Covid complications. ECMO replaces the functions of the heart and lungs when the lungs cannot provide enough oxygen or get rid of enough carbon dioxide from the body, and when the heart cannot pump enough blood into the body.
