2-Day conference of SWAAC ELSO & ECMO Society of India begins 

Ludhiana, March 11, 2023: The 2 day conference of SWAAC ELSO & ECMO Society of India started today at Dayanand Medical college & Hospital, college campus Ludhiana. The conference is inaugurated by Sunil Kant Munjal President DMCH Managing society in presence of Prem Gupta Secretary DMCH Managing society. Sunil Kant Munjal said that ECMO has saved several lives and the technology is progressing rapidly. He said theme of this conference: “Learn, Practice & Sustain Lives”. the program of conference is an amalgamation of  Master classes, state of art advanced simulation & hands on workshops, panel discussions for brainstorming ethical and many more issues of patients on ECMO, plenary talks and quiz to stimulate our young minds into critical thinking.

Prem Kumar Gupta, Secretary of DMCH Managing Society said that we always encourage academic activity at DMCH to exchange knowledge of health care professionals to improve the patient care.

The conference was attended by more than 300 delegates from various specialities critical care, emergency medicine, anaesthesia, paediatrics, cardiology, cardiac surgery etc. The ECMO Experts from various part of the world including including USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Middle East countries and experts from various part of India will be delivering lecture during these 2 days. The unique part of this conference is that the delegates are joining not only from India but also from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri lanka and middle east countries to learn tips and trick of ECMO. During the inaugural ceremony fellowship was awarded to the successful candidates. The first ECMO Journal of India was released. Dr Suneel Pooboni and Dr Venkat Goyal said that this journal will be a good method of communication among the ECMO community. The conference was made interesting with addition of International Quiz on ECMO, paper presentation and e poster presentation. The winners were given prizes and certificates. 

Organizing Secretary Dr Vivek Gupta, Consultant at Hero DMC Heart Institutes said that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, known as ECMO is a life saving treatment which supports heart and lungs for those critically ill patients when other treatment modalities are failed in ICU.

Organizing Chairman Dr Bishav Mohan,said that organizing of such conferences help the budding physicians to know about the proper usage and functioning of ECMO machine to treat several acute ailments.He added that HDHI is the highest ECMO performing center in North India. It has been effectively used in the institute for treating victims of celphos poisoning, patients suffering from swine flu or COVID 19 and other lung diseases due to infection, Cardiogenic shock after a massive heart attack and even in cases of Cardiac arrest.

Dr GS Wander Chief Cardiologist & Coordinator HDHI congratulated the delegate and said that HDHI has developed a separate ECMO unit to provide better and focused care to critically ill patients. He said presently, ECMO treatment is available in only few medical institutions of the country and it is the need of the hour to sensitize present day physicians, ICU specialists, emergency physicians and cardiologists about usage of ECMO modality.

The Pre conference Workshops was conducted on 10th March on ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) and other extracorporeal therapies including CRRT. The participants were not only from India but also from other part of world. The participants got an opportunity to interact and discuss with experienced and renowned national and international faculty along with hands on training on the use of ECMO and management of patients and identifying & addressing complications. This training will help participants to use this novel technology in critically ill patients with various heart and lung problems. 

The workshop trainers & faculty included Dr KR Ramanathan Singapore, Dr Laxami Raman USA, Dr Aparna Hoskote UK, Dr Venkat Goyal& Dr Pranay Oza Mumbai, Dr Ranajit Chatterjee New Delhi,  Dr Poonam Malhotra New Delhi, Dr K Madhan Kumar Chennai, Dr Indira Jai Kumar Chennai, Dr Vinay Singhal Ambala along with faculty from DMC &HDHI. Presently, ECMO treatment is available in only few medical institutions of the country and it is the need of the hour to sensitize present day physicians, critical care specialists, emergency physician, paediatrician,  cardiac surgeon  and cardiologists about usage of ECMO treatment. Dr Vivek Gupta said almost 200 participants attended 4 workshops which included Basic ECMO workshop (for beginners), Advance ECMO Simulation workshop (mimicking real situation & complications), Complex Procedures during ECMO ( Hand on training) and workshop on CRRT & other Extracorporeal therapies. The hands on training will help the participants to be more confident while managing ECMO patients.