Chennai, Jul 29 (IANS): In a rare case, city based MGM Healthcare, a private hospital successfully treated a Covid-19 patient putting him on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) twice.

The ECMO is a procedure that oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body.

According to Dr K.R. Balakrishnan, Chairman-Cardiac Sciences Director, Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support, the 37-year-old male patient Deepak Kumar Keshav was from Rajkot, Gujarat.

He tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2021 and was shifted to MGM Healthcare here in April and was being treated for Covid pneumonia and was put on ventilator support.

He was put on ECMO support and slowly the support was withdrawn as the patient's health condition improved, said Balakrishnan.

Subsequently, Keshav developed a fungal infection and his condition started worsening.

As he was breathless and his oxygen saturation was low, he was put on ECMO support for a second time.

Gradually his clinical condition improved and the ECMO support was taken off.

According to the hospital, the patient is now undergoing active physiotherapy and has been discharged recently.

His health has shown good signs of recovery and will soon be able to fly back to his native Rajkot, the hospital said.