Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, the largest facility of Gleneagles Global Hospitals Group,
A patient from Lucknow with post COVID lung infection, air lifted to Chennai with ECMO support
~ Gleneagles Global Health City managed First Air Transfer of C0VID 19 patient with ECMO Support for such a long distance in the country ~
Chennai, September 23rd, 2020: Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, the largest facility of Gleneagles Global Hospitals Group, saved the life of a 32-year old man from Lucknow who was diagnosed with severe lung infection post-COVID recovery. The patient was Air lifted through a chartered flight with ECMO support during the entire transit process from Lucknow to Chennai. This is the first time in India that a patient has been transported on ECMO, with battery backup for more than 9hrs for a distance covering more than 2110 Kms by air.
A 32-year-old man was diagnosed with COVID infection at his hometown in Lucknow and a few days later recovered successfully from COVID 19 infection. A couple of weeks later, post his COVID 19 recovery, he developed severe breathing complications. He was admitted to a hospital close to his residence and was put under emergency treatment with ventilator support. Despite High Ventilatory Oxygen support, his oxygen levels were extremely low with the accumulation of carbon dioxide at an alarming level in the blood. To get a clear understanding on his medical condition, doctors performed a few tests; his CT scan revealed that his lungs were damaged more than 75% and he reached a stage wherein Lung Transplant or ECMO support were the only options available for his survival.
Looking at the patient’s condition, doctors from Lucknow contacted health experts at Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, and briefed them about the severity of the patient’s condition. After a thorough analysis of the patient’s illness, doctors from Chennai and Lucknow decided to air transfer the patient to Chennai on a chartered flight with continuous ECMO support. The family was briefed by the doctor on the patient’s condition and the urgent need to transport him to Chennai for an advanced treatment.
On 16th September, doctors from Gleneagles Global Health City took a commercial flight from Chennai to Luc know and initiated ECMO for the patient at the Lucknow Hospital. With the support of the ECMO machine, do ctors stabilized the patient for a few hours. On the 17th September, the patient was shifted to Chennai through chartered flight, in the presence of the medical experts to monitor his condition. The flight duration between Lu cknow and Chennai was 5 hours and 30 mins and the planning had to be meticulous. In-between we had to do a short stopover of half an hour at Raipur only to refill the jet fuel.
“Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is reserved for those who are critically ill and in these current times with the emergence of COVID‐19, we are seeing more and more critically ill patients. ECMO machine pl ays a vital role in critical condition which helps in either as a bridge to recovery or bridge to Transplant. Curre ntly, the patient is slowly recovering from lung infection with the support of ECMO and is being closely monito red by the health experts” added Dr Govini Balasubramani, Senior Consultant – ECMO, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart & Lung Transplantation, Gleneagles Global Health City.
Dr Alok Khullar, Chief Executive officer – Gleneagles Global Health City said “The team at Gleneagles Global Health City went on a war footing to obtain all necessary approvals and permits from the health officials of the respective state s. They coordinated with airport authorities and transport department to ensure safe and seamless transfer of the patien t to Chennai. Despite all the hurdles, we were able to shift the patient safely and provide him with the best possible treat ment. I applaud the entire team of Gleneagles Global Health City including the doctors, nurses, technicians, operations team and the support staff for their well coordinated efforts in giving patient the best of care amidst the challenging situ ation.”
About Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai
Gleneagles Global Health City, the sprawling 21-acre facility located in Perumbakkam, Chennai, is the largest facility of Gleneagles Global Hospitals India. With a capacity of over 1000 beds and accreditations from leading agencies, the facility is Asia’s most trusted and leading Multi-Organ Transplant Centre. The hospital has unde rtaken several path-breaking Liver, Neuro, Heart, Lung and Kidney procedures. It is recognized by several na tional level accrediting agencies. World-class infrastructure, dedicated staff and a commitment for medical exc ellence are the USPs of this facility. The hospital has several achievements to its credit and continues to work on several pioneering procedures.
Gleneagles Global Hospitals has multi-super speciality hospitals in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. The brand is the most preferred hospital group for multi-organ transplants in Asia region. The parent entity of Gleneagles Global Hospitals is IHH Healthcare, a leading premium integrated healthcare provider with a net w ork of 84 hospitals and more than 16,000 licensed beds. It is one of the largest healthcare groups in the world by market capitalisation and is listed in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia and Main Board of SGX-ST. IHH is a leading player in the home markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and India, and in their key growth markets of China and Hong Kong.
