India's first Covid-19 patient on ECMO support for 12 days defeats virus

Although she did not have any co-morbidity, doctors feel her obesity could be a reason behind her severe condition

A 24-year-old highly obese woman claimed to have become the first coronavirus patient in the country to defeat Covid-19 and survive after being put on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support for the past 12 days, sources in the private hospital that treated her said on Monday.

It is not always possible to clinically manage respiratory distress in Covid-9 patients with ventilator support and ECMO is the last option for them, an official of the hospital said adding that three coronavirus infected persons in New Delhi and Chennai, who were put on ECMO, did not survive.

The woman, who is from Kolkata's Kalighat area