Bhubaneswar: After months of uncertainty, the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar finally received one ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine on Wednesday.
A team of specialist doctors, including Dr Rudra Pratap Mohapatra and Dr Siddharth Sathia (Cardiologists), Dr Krishna (Paediatrics) and Dr Satyajit Mishra, Head of the Department of Anesthesiology, has bee
n trained to run the machine.
Since nursing staff are yet to undergo training, the hospital authorities have issued necessary instructions in this regard. A patient undergoing ECMO treatment has to be kept under watch for 24 hours and hence, the presence of a staff nurse is necessary.
It may be mentioned here that the AIIMS authorities had hired one ECMO machine from a private hospital for the treatment of the BJP leader Pradipta Naik.
According to sources, AIIMS had planned to make the ECMO unit functional last year following the COVID-19 outbreak. However, it got no response to the e-tender floated in November 2020 since there is no domestic manufacturer of the machine.
Earlier this month, AIIMS-Director Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane had told the media that a purchase order has already been placed and the Indian agency of a foreign company has assured to deliver the machine by the end of this month.
The premier health institute is expecting a second machine in the next three months.