Abhishek Mohapatra of Basudevpur area of Bhadrak district, who was undergoing Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) treatment for the past 3 months in Kolkata, succumbed to the deadly virus on Friday (Sept 3).
Reports said that Abhishek passed away at around 10 PM on Friday while undergoing treatment. Abhishek who was merely 28 years-old, was an only child of his parents. A Civil-Engineer by profession, Abhishek used to work at Oman and had returned back to India on March 25 this year. On May 5, Abhishek had got married and just 8 days after his wedding, he was detected with Covid-19. Abhishek was then admitted at Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Hospital where his condition further deteriorated due to Covid-19 complications. Due to lack of ECMO services in Odisha then, Abhishek had to be airlifted and shifted to Kolkata for treatment.
As the expenses were too much to bear for Abhishek's family, they started crowd - funding for his treatment. Several people in the state donated to help and had raised a generous amount for Abhishek's treatment which had helped his family airlift him on June 7. It is pertinent to mention that Abhishek was one of the first few patients from Odisha to been airlifted outside the state for treatment. However, after realizing the importance of ECMO, Odisha government immediately sought for the facility for the state which is now available at SCB Hospital in Cuttack and AIIMS in Bhubaneswar.