The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced the launch of «ECMO» Service in Asir Region. The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, known as «ECMO», is a highly sophisticated and high-risk technology, which requires an integrated medical team and special equipment. This technology is used in critical cases of pneumonia, and is adopted at 298 centers around the world.
According to MOH, this service is available at three MOH’s healthcare centers, in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, in addition to some other public hospitals.
Within the same vein, a medical team at the ICU department of Asir Central Hospital has successfully put a patient with MERS-CoV on the ECMO machine. Then, he has been transferred to the hospital’s ICU, where he is receiving treatment. It is noted that this is the first case of ECMO at MOH’s hospitals in Asir.