Tripura doctors at AGMC and GBP Hospital have used ECMO for the first time to treat a 25-year-old woman with severe paraquat poisoning, critical lung failure and kidney damage, marking a major advancement in the state’s critical-care capabilities. The treatment is being provided free of cost at the government hospital.
In a major advancement in critical-care treatment in Tripura, doctors at Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) and GBP Hospital have for the first time used Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) on a critically ill patient suffering from severe lung failure.
The highly advanced life-support procedure was initiated on August 24 on a 25-year-old woman who had reportedly consumed paraquat, a highly toxic herbicide that can cause severe and often irreversible damage to the lungs, kidneys and other vital organs.
According to the Health Department, the young woman was initially undergoing treatment in the Medicine Department of AGMC and GBP Hospital. Her condition deteriorated rapidly after the poisoning severely affected her lungs and kidneys. Her blood oxygen level reportedly fell to an alarming 30-40 per cent, while the condition of her lungs became comparable to that seen in some of the most critical cases of Covid-related lung damage.
As conventional ventilator support proved inadequate to maintain her lung function, the patient was shifted in a critical condition to the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) Department. Faced with a rapidly worsening situation, the medical team decided to place her on ECMO support on Monday night.
ECMO is an advanced form of life support used when the heart or lungs are unable to function adequately despite conventional treatment. The machine temporarily takes over part of the work of the lungs by circulating the patient’s blood outside the body, adding oxygen and removing carbon dioxide before returning it to the bloodstream. This allows the severely damaged lungs to rest and potentially recover.
Following the procedure, the CTVS team remained on round-the-clock watch, closely monitoring the patient’s condition through the night.
Doctors said ECMO support could provide the critically damaged lungs valuable time to recover. However, the patient’s condition continues to remain serious as her kidneys have also failed. The hospital authorities are coordinating with the Nephrology Department to arrange dialysis and provide the necessary renal support.
Paraquat poisoning is considered extremely dangerous, particularly because of the severe damage it can cause to the lungs and kidneys, and the chances of survival in serious cases are generally poor. Doctors, however, hope that ECMO may provide the crucial window needed for further treatment and recovery.
If the young woman responds to treatment and her lung and kidney functions improve, the case could become a landmark in Tripura’s medical history — not merely as the state’s first use of ECMO, but as the first successful rescue of a critically ill patient through the advanced life-support technology.
The medical team was led by CTVS surgeon Dr Kanak Narayan Bhattacharjee and included Dr Rimjhim Chakma, perfusionists Sujan Sahu and Sourav Tripura, cardiac OT technologists Ratan Mondal, Sudipta Mondal, Minhaj Uddin, Abhijit Das, Arpita Sarkar, Mousumi Debnath, Sourav Shil, Anna Bahadur Jamatia, Tanmoy Ghosh, Sagar Debnath and Ankita Chakraborty, among others.
Significantly, the entire ECMO treatment is being provided free of cost at the government hospital. According to the Health Department, similar ECMO treatment at a private hospital could cost around Rs 20 lakh or more.
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The introduction of ECMO at AGMC and GBP Hospital marks an important addition to Tripura’s critical-care capabilities, potentially allowing patients requiring such highly specialised life support to receive treatment within the state instead of being shifted to hospitals outside Tripura.
