As critical COVID cases go up, demand for ECMO escalates
The Hindu
ECMO machines are expensive and difficult to procure
The spike in the number of critical COVID patients has shot up the demand for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) procedure in Hyderabad, which is offered only at top corporate hospitals. However, heads of the hospitals said that the ECMO machines are limited in number and procuring more would be difficult. Apart from patients from Telangana, there is a flow of inquiries from attendants of patients from other States. Many patients get airlifted to the city for this procedure from other States. ECMO is a method in which blood is drawn out of the body into a machine, oxygen is mixed with blood using a special by-pass pump-circuit, and the blood is pumped back into the body. It works as an artificial heart-lungs machine.For the first time in a Lok Sabha election, the AIADMK forfeited deposits in seven constituencies. For the ruling DMK, the verdict is seen as a popular endorsement of the functioning of its three-year government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. The outcome indicates that the BJP, whose Hindutva ideology has all along been considered alien to the political ethos of Tamil Nadu
Cardiologist and MP-elect from Bengaluru Rural C.N. Manjunath, who contested from the BJP and defeated three-time Congress MP D.K. Suresh, said he was the “people’s candidate” and that it is their aspiration to see him in the Union Cabinet. In an interview with The Hindu, he claimed his victory was possible because those who were treated at the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research became his “ambassadors”.