Critically-ill school education minister Jagarnath Mahto, who had to be put on life support at a private hospital in Chennai following a coronavirus infection which damaged his lungs, is yet to show signs of improvement, doctors said on Tuesday.

Dr Suresh Rao, the Co-director of Institute of Heart and Lung Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Assist Device at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Healthcare in Chennai, said that Mahto was stable but his lungs were not improving despite being put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

“We have to give his lungs more time to respond to the treatment. He is stable, but his lungs are not showing any signs of improvement as of now,” said Dr Rao.

At present, doctors at MGM were not even testing the efficiency of Mahto’s lungs, as a CT scan may also pose health risks, Rao added. “We are not planning any test at present. We will continue to keep him on life support and wait for his lungs to heal,” he said.

ECMO is a life support system in which gas exchange happens outside the body through the machine instead of the lungs. Once the blood is oxygenated and carbon dioxide is removed, it is pumped back to the heart, from where it circulates to other parts of the body.

Jagarnath Mahto, 53, a JMM legislator from Dumri constituency, tested positive for Covid-19 on September 28 and was initially admitted in state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi. He was shifted to the ICU of Bhagwan Mahavir Medical Supercpecialty Hospital in Ranchi on October 1 after his condition deteriorated. The minister was flown to Chennai on October 19 and admitted at MGM Healthcare in the Tamil Nadu capital.

Although Mahto’s lungs have not improved in the past one week, doctors are hopeful that they might heal. Some patients have recovered after being put on ECMO for a month, doctors said. A patient, who did not respond to ECMO, had to undergo lung transplant and is now doing well, said Dr Rao.