Project Virya to raise funds for CRRT machine to National ECMO Centre

Monday, 15 March 2021 02:52 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Project Virya is a fundraiser led by the 2007 Batch of Musaeus College to donate a Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) machine to the National ECMO Centre. The country does not have sufficient reliable and suitable CRRT machines and under the current circumstances of the COVID -19 pandemic, a CRRT can prove to be a life saver for critically ill patients.

The CRRT machine carries out a blood purification function and is specifically designed for patients with critical renal (kidney) failure. In other words, the CRRT is an improved version of a dialysis machine which places less of a strain on the patient’s heart. The blood purification therapy is done 24 hours a day to slowly and continuously clean waste products and fluid from the patients.

The Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine on the other hand is similar to the heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest.

Whilst it is an established fact that COVID-19 impacts the lungs of the infected patient, the pandemic is affecting patients in many ways that are yet to be understood. One of its unexpected impacts is Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), which is a sudden kidney failure usually due to infection or trauma. The kidneys stop working and fluid and uremic toxins build up in the body.

Critical level COVID-19 patients are often diagnosed with pneumonia and acute kidney diseases. Such patients often need not only heart and lung support by the ECMO but also renal support from a CRRT if their kidneys also malfunction. Whilst the ECMO oxygenates the patient’s blood, a CRRT is essential for continuous dialysis.

Presently there are no CRRT machines in Sri Lanka that can be integrated with an ECMO, leaving hospitals to make a difficult choice to either oxygenate the blood or to purify it at any given time. Both the treatments cannot be given at the same time to critically ill patients. This proves to be life threatening in most cases.

Initial data reports that approximately 50% of patients requiring ECMO had shown signs of kidney failure, hence needed continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). The existing CRRT at the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya is not ECMO compatible.

The proposed machine will be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka and will enable the hospital to oxygenate and purify the blood simultaneously.

GELSA President Dr. Tolusha Harishchnadra and her team have expressed immense support and excitement for this fundraiser. The fundraiser has been initiated in memory of late Dr. Gayan Dantanarayana who lost his life fighting the pandemic. The fundraiser will strengthen the hands of the hospital and help to save lives.

You can make your kind donations to,

Account name – Project Virya – Fund for Enhancement of ECMO Machine at Karapitiya

Bank – DFCC Bank PLC

Account number – 007115007209

Branch and code – City (007)

SWIFT code – FDCCLKLX

Bank code -7454