TNI Bureau:   As critical Covid cases continue to spike in Odisha that forces critically ill covid patients to airlift to other centres outside the State, Odisha Government has decided to set up six extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) units at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for treatment of critical COVID patients, informed Director of Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Dr CBK Mohanty.

The ECMO machines will be installed in the Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery Ward of the hospital. It will help in treating patients whose lungs are completely damaged due to Covid-19.

The ECMO machine is similar to the heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest.

As per reports, there are 21 registered ECMO centres in the country including 19 in private hospitals and two in Government hospitals.

Odisha has only two ECMO machines for Covid patients and these are only in private hospitals – SUM and KIMS.

Read More: https://enewsinsight.com/100-word-edit-odisha-needs-more-ecmo-machines/