SCB Medical College and Hospital to have full-fledged ECMO unit soon

CUTTACK:  As critical Covid cases continue to spike and the need for advanced clinical interventions like Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) has gone up significantly forcing patients to be airlifted to other centres outside the State, the government is set to establish a full-fledged unit at SCB Medical College and Hospital soon. 

The unit, equipped with six ECMO machines, will function from the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) department. The procurement process has already been started.

DMET Prof CBK Mohanty said the SCB MCH will be the first government hospital in the State to have this life-saving facility.

The ECMO machines will help in treating patients whose lungs are completely damaged due to Covid-19.

“If a person’s lungs are 100 per cent affected due to Covid-19 and ventilator support no longer helps, ECMO intervention is needed as a bridge to either help lungs recover or until a transplant is possible,” said Mohanty.

The ECMO machines will be purchased by Odisha State Medical Corporation (OSMC).

A six-member technical committee has been constituted to fix the specification and technical parameters for establishment of the life saving unit as soon as possible.

Apart from Prof Mohanty, the committee comprises SCB MCH Principal Datteshwar Hota, Prof Nivedita Pani of Anesthesia department, Prof Manoranjan Pattanaik of Pulmonary Medicine department, Prof Manoj Kumar Pattanaik of CTVS department and Prof Jayant Panda of Medicine department. 

SCB MCH to have full-fledged ECMO unit

Critical patients, at present, have to incur an expenditure of around Rs 35 lakh towards shifting to Hyderabad in air ambulance and the treatment.

However, patients will be able to get the treatment free of cost here as the ECMO machines will be procured as a part of Covid management, said Mohanty. 

As per reports, there are 21 registered ECMO centres in the country, of which 19 are in private hospitals and the rest at two government hospitals - Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Science in Lucknow and The Simulation Society (TSS) at AIIMS in New Delhi. 

In Odisha, though  ECMO support system is available at Sum Hospital and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Bhubaneswar, the one at KIMS is not being used due to absence of experts and trained manpower.