Odisha: Steel authority of India limited’s hospital at Rourkela to get extracorporeal membrane oxygenation facility

BHUBANESWAR: Union steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday directed the steel authority of India limited (SAIL) for setting up of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines in its hospitals in the country including the Ispat Post Graduate Institute (IPGI) and Super Specialty Hospital (SSH) at Rourkela.
Pradhan said this while inaugurating a 114-bed Covid care facility in Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) of SAIL in Chhattisgarh.He had recently dedicated the augmented ICU ventilator facilities to the people at the Super Specialty Hospital of the SAIL at Rourkela for treatment of Covid patients.
ECMO machines are very much important for critical patients to pump and oxygenate blood outside the patient's body. Due to unavailability of this facility, some patients (mostly Covid affected) have been airlifted to other states for urgent treatment. It was seen that relatives of two youths have crowd-funded the ECMO treatment for the youths.
In a related development, AIIMS Bhubaneswar has already placed a purchase order to procure two ECMO machines for treatment of critical Covid patients and other ICU patients. It will be established in the hospital very soon.
“It is expected that the first ECMO machine will be delivered and installed at the end of this month, as confirmed by the supplier. These machines are used for treatment of critical Covid patients and for other critical cases of different ICUs,” said Sachidananda Mohanty, medical superintendent of the hospital.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar has some faculty members trained in handling ECMO machines. This national institute is hiring more technicians to operate these machines which will help people especially those referred to outside for treatment, said the hospital sources.
The hospital had planned to set up the ECMO facility last year, but it could not be materialised. It did not get a response from any company against its e-tender floated in November.
The state government has also started the process to set up six ECMO machines at SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack.