The first patient to get Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support at the Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack reportedly died under treatment on Saturday night.
The patient from Pattamundai in Kendrapara was under ECMO since August 29 when he was shifted to the Cardiothoracic department from the COVID ward in the hospital after developing post-COVID complications in his lungs.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the State health Department has also been shifted to the same department for ECMO treatment from a private hospital in Bhubaneswar where he was being treated for COVID earlier.
Currently, three patients are getting ECMO treatment at the SCBMCH.
The Odisha government had launched a dedicated ECMO facility at SCB Medical College and Hospital on August 27, 2021. It is first of its kind in Odisha that nine ECMO machines were installed at a time in the state. The facility provides free ECMO treatment to critically ill patients and it is the largest ECMO facility in the eastern part of India.
Earlier, during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, several critically ill patients were airlifted to other parts of the India due to lack of ECMO treatment facility in Odisha. Following this, ECMO machines were installed at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and SUM Hospital in the State.