Stress on embracing life saving ECMO technology
The online awareness programme was organised under the guidance of Vice-Chancellor Dr P Chandrasekhar and the supervision of Registrar Dr V Radhika Reddy. For the first time in Andhra Pradesh, the programme was conducted by Dr Sunil Pooboni, who recently returned from abroad. It was live-streamed from the university to all medical colleges across the state. Speaking on the occasion, Pooboni stressed the importance of exploring collaborations with the Government of India and expanding life-saving Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in Andhra Pradesh. He explained that ECMO is a critical life-support technology used when lungs or heart fail and typically used when ventilator support fails, especially after severe lung conditions such as acute pneumonia.
He further said after a heart attack, when the heart becomes too weak to circulate enough blood, ECMO provides temporary support until recovery. Dr Sunil said this technique is widely used in Western countries and is being implemented in some corporate hospitals in India. He said setting up an ECMO unit requires adequate infrastructure, trained doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, as it functions like a heart-lung bypass, it can be crucial to saving lives. He said introducing training facilities and infrastructure in government hospitals can help significantly reduce costs. Dr Sunil said survival rate is up to 60 per cent in respiratory cases and around 50 percent in cardiac cases and added that ECMO can be used across all age groups. He underlined the need to expand the ECMO in the state to save lives and render assistance in emergency cases. Principals and Superintendents of all medical colleges, Heads of Departments, UG and PG medical student sand others attended the webinar training class.
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