Critical COVID Patient Dies In Odisha’s SCB, Eastern India’s Biggest ECMO Unit Falls Vacant

Cuttack: The ECMO unit at SCB Medical College and Hospital in the city fell vacant on Thursday after a critical COVID patient died on Wednesday night.

The deceased was identified as Annapurna Nayak (58), a resident of Badakhira village in Cuttack’ Nischintkoili block.

She was admitted to the SCB on August 28 for ECMO treatment. However, she died due of multi-organ failure after undergoing treatment for 24 days.

Earlier, Jagannath Pradhan (32) of Belatala village in Pattamundai block of Kendrapada district, Jyotirmayee Panda (38) of Balangir district and Dilip Kumar Agrawal, a senior Health official of Bhubaneswar, had succumbed while undergoing ECMO treatment at SCB.

Earlier in August, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the ECMO unit at SCB’s cardiothoracic ward. It is the biggest ECMO unit in Eastern India.

There are nine ECMO machines in the ward. Three are for COVID patients and six are for non-COVID patients.