R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, DEC 7
MGM Healthcare has rolled out its state-of-the-art ‘ECMO on Wheels’, claimed to be a first-of-its-kind emergency service designed to deliver ICU-level heart-and-lung life support at the patient’s location/Home in India. The initiative aims to drastically improve survival in severe cardiac or respiratory failure by eliminating delays in initiating life-saving ECMO therapy.
- MGM Healthcare unveils advanced “ECMO on Wheels” for rapid, on-site stabilisation in cardiac and respiratory emergencies
- Unit brings expert critical-care teams and artificial heart–lung support directly to patients in remote or high-risk locations
- Aims to reduce treatment delays, prevent organ damage, and improve survival in the sickest patients
- Doctors call it a breakthrough that “bridges the critical gap” in emergency heart–lung care
The unit was launched on Sunday by Assistant Commissioner of Police P.K. Ravi, Anna Nagar MLA M.K. Mohan and ALERT Foundation’s Managing Trustee Dr. Rajesh in the presence of Dr K. R. Balakrishnan, Director of Heart & Lung Transplantation; Dr Suresh Rao, Co-Director, Institute of Heart & Lung Transplant; and Dr Senathi Nanda Kishore, Clinical Director and Senior Consultant, Anaesthes iology & Surgical ICU, MGM Healthcare.
ECMO — Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation — is a life-support technique that circulates blood outside the body, oxygenates it through an artificial lung, and pumps it back into the patient. It is deployed when the heart or lungs are too severely impaired for conventional treatments such as medications, ventilators, or CPR to maintain life. ECMO is vital in conditions such as cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, massive heart attacks, pulmonary embolism, severe pneumonia, ARDS, and advanced respiratory failure.
Algonside the ECMO launch, MGM Healthcare conducted an advanced Continuous Medical Education (CME) programme to equip medical professionals with enhanced emergency-response skills beyond CPR and inotropes.
Addressing reporters the team of doctors claimed that this is first-of-its-kind emergency service designed to deliver ICU-level heart-and-lung life support at the patient’s location/Home in India on par with medical facilities in existence in western/European countries.
Answering queries Dr K. R. Balakrishnan, Director of Heart & Lung Transplantation, MGM Healthcare said, there were 6 doctors and few technicians were trained to handle the ‘ECMO on Wheels’ and more doctors would be trained in future. The number of ‘ECMO on Wheels’ ambulances would be scaled up as the cost of the ECMO equipment itself comes to around Rs 60 Lakhs, he added.
He also said that the hospital can reach out ‘ECMO on Wheels’ to smaller hospitals which have no such facility in addition to reaching out the patients directly he added.
Dr Senathi Nanda Kishore said, “Timely access to ECMO can be the difference between life and death in cardiopulmonary emergencies. Traditionally, ECMO support has been available only at highly specialised hospitals but there can be delays in reaching them. For patients suffering severe heart or lung failure in remote locations, every minute without adequate oxygenation or circulation raises the risk of irreversible organ damage, brain injury, or cardiac arrest. The new Mobile ECMO Unit bridges that critical gap by bringing advanced heart–lung life support directly to the patient’s location. It is staffed by expert critical-care physicians, perfusionists, and nurses who enable rapid on-site stabilisation and initiation of life-saving therapy even before hospital arrival.”
Dr K. R. Balakrishnan further said, “When all other traditional resuscitative strategies have been exhausted, ECMO is the only alternative left to save the life. ECMO is a resource-intensive, high stakes intervention reserved for the sickest patients, designed to provide temporary, life-sustaining support in critical moments. Our goal is to provide timely, high-quality ECMO to every patient, wherever they are. By bringing an experienced ECMO team and a fully equipped mobile unit directly to the patient’s bedside, ECMO on Wheels reduces transfer delays, stabilises patients early, and delivers life-saving cardiopulmonary support exactly when it’s needed.”
Dr Suresh Rao said, “The Mobile ECMO Unit marks a major leap forward in emergency critical care. It allows us to reach patients with severe heart failure, advanced pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a severe lung condition causing dangerously low oxygen levels, or pulmonary embolism, a condition of blood clot in the lungs, much faster, initiate life-saving support on-site, and safely transport even the sickest individuals. By extending ICU-level care to remote locations and reducing delays in treatment, this service is set to transform outcomes for patients who would otherwise have little chance of survival.”
