Covid-19: Jharkhand minister Jagarnath Mahto recovers after lung transplant in Chennai hospital

CHENNAI: Jharkhand minister Jagarnath Mahto, who underwent a bilateral lung transplant in a Chennai hospital after the organs were destroyed by Covid-19, has recovered well, doctors treating him said. On Thursday, the MGM Healthcare declared the 54-year-old minister fit for discharge.
Mahto, who tested positive for the viral infection on October 1, was admitted to Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi after he tested positive for the viral infection.Despite aggressive therapy including drugs such as Remdesiver and other steroids, the infection worsened and destroyed his lungs leaving him with low saturation level. As his lung condition worsened and his oxygen saturation went low, doctors put him on a ventilator.
On October 19, he was flown down to Chennai in an isolated pod of an air ambulance with life support (ventilator and ECMO). Since the viral infection had invaded his lungs, the doctor said he might require a lung transplant if it did not heal. Comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease pulled down treatment outcomes.
“He was on ECMO for about a month and did not show significant improvement. Lung transplant then became inevitable,” said senior cardiac anaesthetist Dr KG Suresh Rao. On October 28, doctors did a tracheotomy and enlisted him for an organ transplant.
On November 10, Mahto underwent a bilateral lung transplant.
“We removed the ECMO on the table. His oxygenation improved for the first time in months,” said lung transplant surgeon Dr Apar Jindal. “He was weaned off the ventilator support by December 8,” he added. On New Year’s day, doctors removed his tracheostomy. “Since then his vital parameters are stable,” he said.
The minister thanked the MGM team. “I have recovered and will soon return to my state and serve people," the minister told the media from his hospital room.
The hospital had completed eight lung transplants on patients whose lungs had been damaged by coronavirus, said senior transplant surgeon Dr KR Balakrishnan, who heads the cardiac department at the hospital. “Seven of them had been on ECMO for 29 days to 70 days. In all of them, transplant was inevitable," he said.