Tripura's First ECMO Treatment Saves Poisoning Patient at GB Hospital
Aug 26, 2026
Doctors at Agartala Government Medical College and GBP Hospital on Monday successfully performed the state's first Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) procedure to save a 25-year-old woman suffering from severe lung failure caused by paraquat poisoning.
The rare and complex procedure, the first of its kind in Tripura's medical history, was carried out by a medical team led by a specialist from the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) department. The patient had consumed paraquat, a highly toxic weedicide known to gradually damage vital organs, particularly the lungs and kidneys.
As a result of the poisoning, oxygen levels in her lungs fell sharply to around 30 to 40 percent, with her condition resembling that of severe COVID-19 patients. She was shifted from the medicine ward to the CTVS department in a critical state. When ventilator support proved insufficient to sustain lung function, doctors placed her on the ECMO machine on Monday night to artificially oxygenate her blood and remove carbon dioxide, allowing her lungs time to rest and recover.
The CTVS team monitored the patient through the night. Doctors said there is a good chance her lungs will return to normal function with ECMO support, though her kidneys remain non-functional. Hospital authorities, the Principal, and the Nephrology department are jointly working to arrange dialysis for her at the earliest.
Doctors noted that paraquat poisoning is extremely dangerous, with very slim survival chances. However, they said that if ECMO support buys enough time and kidney treatment proceeds successfully, this could become the first successful case in Tripura's history of reviving a critical patient through ECMO treatment.
The medical team was led by CTVS surgeon Dr Kanaknarayan Bhattacharya, along with Dr Rimjhim Chakma, perfusionists Sujan Sahu and Sourav Tripura, and cardiac OT technologists Ratan Mondal, Sudipta Mondal, Minhaj Uddin, Abhijit Das, Arpita Sarkar, Mousumi Debnath, Sourav Sheel, Anna Bahadur Jamatia, Tanmoy Ghosh, Sagar Debnath and Ankita Chakraborty, among others.
The treatment was provided entirely free of cost. A similar ECMO procedure at a private hospital could cost around Rs 20 lakh or more, making this a moment of pride for the people of the state.
