Physicians of a private hospital in Chennai successfully carried out a lung transplant on an COVID-19 patient. The 48-year-old individual from Delhi seriously damaged lungs because of COVID-19-related fibrosis. The hospital maintained that this was Asia’s first known lung transplant on an COVID-19 positive patient.

He was proven to be optimistic on June 8 and needed to be kept on ventilator support ever since then. As his condition worsened, he was airlifted into MGM Healthcare about July 20 at which he was put on ECMO service five days later, reported The Indian Express.

Citing a statement in the hospital, ” the report noted,”He developed COVID-19 disease on June 8. Only a small part of the lungs was still functioning. As he became breathless and oxygen modification came , he was set on ventilatory support on June 20. His condition continued to worsen in spite of ventilator service, he had been airlifted into MGM Healthcare in Chennai by Ghaziabad on July 20. His lung illness continued to be worsening despite utmost ventilatory supportive attention, and he had been placed on ECMO service on July 25, 2020, for over 1 month. Such patients are hard to manage in well-equipped ICUs.”

Talking to NDTV, Dr KR Balakrishnan, both the Chairman and Director of heart and lung transplant programme in the MGM Healthcare, said,”The whole team put their own lives in danger with this particular surgery,” Dr Balakrishnan said, adding that the individual had recovered from COVID until he was operated on.

“His lungs are functioning well today and we have eliminated ECMO support.