ARSS Infrastructure Donates One ECMO Machine to BMC

Bhubaneswar: ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited today donated a life-saving Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), which will be sent to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

The ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited has donated the ECMO machine as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment in support of the war against Covid-19 pandemic.
Ankush Agarwal, Director, ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited, handed over the ECMO machine to BMC Commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Singh at reception hall of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) office.

Appreciating the noble gesture of ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited in the time of pandemic, the BMC Commissioner said: “We have received the ECMO machine, and it will be given to the Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery Department of SCB Medical College and Hospital where critical Covid patients can avail the treatment.”

Sunil Kumar Agarwal, President and CEO, ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited, said: “We are happy and it’s a great pleasure for us to donate the ECMO machine to the BMC as part of our social commitment, and such medical device will be very useful in saving precious lives and staying prepared in the future. We will donate another ECMO machine to the State Government in the coming days.”
The machine costs around ₹65 lakh, and the ECMO kit, which consists of medical consumables, cost around ₹3 lakh.

What is ECMO?

ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation. This is one of the relatively new organ support options for critically ill patients. This has gained popularity recently especially in the current second wave of COVID pandemic. 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.
When is ECMO treatment used?

ECMO is an artificial heart and lung support used for a patient who has lung and/ or heart disease and has failed to improve despite support from ventilators and inotropes. This is the treatment of the last option when everything else has failed.