Hopes of survival took wing for 31-year-old Lucknow doctor Sharda Suman, who was airlifted to KIMS, Hyderabad, on Sunday for a lung transplant procedure after Covid-19 wrecked her respiratory organs.
A resident doctor with Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical (RMLIMS), she was battling for life for over two months before the UP government swiftly sanctioned Rs 1.5crore for the life-saving surgery. She reached Hyderabad after a 2-hour flight from Lucknow, straddling green corridors in both cities for quick, seamless movement.
Late Saturday, a four-member team from KIMS, Hyderabad, arrived in Lucknow and examined the patient around midnight for pre-transplant assessment. Since a brief withdrawal of the advanced life support system (ECMO) could prove fatal, her condition was reviewed again in the morning. The KIMS medical team then moved her to their own ECMO facility and after monitoring her stability for several hours, the journey to Hyderabad began.
"Dr Suman reached safely and is in KIMS ICU," said Prof PK Das, head anesthesia department, RMLIMS, who had been taking care of the resident doctor since May 1.
It was an emotional send-off for Dr Suman with sobbing colleagues and RMLIMS faculty members praying for her safe journey. Green corridors were opened from RMLIMS to Amausi airport and from Hyderabad airport to KIMS to skirt traffic bottlenecks. She was on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) all through the journey. An ECMO is used for pumping and oxygenating a patient's blood out of the body, allowing heart and lungs to rest.
Starting at 11am from RMLIMS, it took 30 minutes to reach Amausi airport before a two-hour journey by air ambulance to Hyderabad. Her husband, Dr Ajay Kumar, and Dr PK Das accompanied her to Lucknow airport. “The lung transplant procedure at KIMS will take time as she needs to be stabilized and treated for any condition that may have developed during the flight,” Dr Das said.
Dr Suman, a postgraduate resident in RMLIMS’ gynaecology department, was eight-months pregnant when she contracted Covid-19 on April 14, while on duty at a non-Covid emergency ward. She was hospitalised in a Covid ward and when her condition deteriorated, she was put on a ventilator and a C-section surgery was done to save her child.
The baby girl is doing fine, doctors told TOI. But Dr Suman kept sinking and was subsequently put on ECMO and a team of experts recommended a lung transplant on July 1. Head, pulmonary and critical care medicine department, King George's Medical University, professor Ved Prakash, said, even after the transplant, Dr Suman may need to stay in a bio bubble to avoid infection."
