Chennai man, touted as India's longest surviving COVID 19 patient, recovers after 109 days on ventilator

A 56-year-old Chennai man called his recovery a "second birth" on Friday morning when he went home from Chennai's Rela Hospital after being infected with Covid-19. Businessman Mohamed Muddhija was brought to the hospital after having tested positive. His lungs were completely damaged and the doctors did not have high hopes. However, the use of ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support or artificial lungs for 62 days has helped Muddhija recover and now go home.

Chennai man recovers after 109 days on ventilator

According to a report in NDTV, after Muddhija's lungs were damaged the doctors had to put him in ECMO. This meant his lungs required around 10 litres of oxygen per minute. While he was due for a lung transplant, it did not pan out as the deadly second wave had hit India by then. The doctors continued to keep him on ECMO and it was only in the ninth week that Muddhija began showing signs of recovery.

After being on ventilator for 109 days, Muddhija was ecstatic about his recovery and returning home. He told NDTV while exiting the hospital, "It's my second birth. Whatever they (doctors) asked me to do I did. I had put all my efforts in God's hands. I was mostly unconscious. My wife took care of everything. But I'm a sportsman and that kept me strong. Now I will get back to my business activity and take care of my family and relatives."

While Muddhija's success story is one for the books, reality on ground remains that treatments like ECMO do not come cheap. The ECMO alone costs around Rs 40 lakh a month and majority of the Indian population will find it hard to afford one.

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