Civil Services aspirant whose lungs got damaged due to Covid recovers; set to appear for interview

Hyderabad: A Civil Services aspirant, who was on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support for nearly four months as 80 per cent of his lungs got damaged due to COVID-19, has now fully recovered and is set to appear for the UPSC interview on September 22, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said on Thursday. Devanand Telgote […]

Hyderabad: A Civil Services aspirant, who was on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support for nearly four months as 80 per cent of his lungs got damaged due to COVID-19, has now fully recovered and is set to appear for the UPSC interview on September 22, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said on Thursday.
Devanand Telgote who qualified for the UPSC mains last year was supposed to appear for the interview in August. However, he could not attend as he was undergoing treatment in KIMS hospital here. He was discharged on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old man from Akola in Maharashtra was one of the 500 aspirants who is being advised by Bhagwat on cracking the exams. He first developed the COVID-19 symptoms when he was in Delhi in April. He consulted several doctors and hospitals, without any respite. Based on Bhagwat’s advice he was admitted to the hospital here, family sources said.

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“He was brought to KIMS hospitals by air ambulance from Maharashtra on May 15 and was kept on ECMO (heart-lung machine) support as his condition worsened. Friends and relatives of Telgote raised about Rs one crore through crowd funding to meet his treatment expenses. He is now fully recovered and set to attend the interview,” Bhagwat told PTI.
Hospital sources said the family decided to shift him to the Hyderabad-based hospital as his lungs started getting badly affected and not able to maintain the oxygen saturation level despite ventilator-assistance.

“By that time, 80 per cent of his lungs was damaged….there was a plan of lung transplant too. But, the expert hands of Dr. Sandeep Attawar and his team at the heart and lung transplant team, KIMS hospitals treated him on ECMO support for nearly four months,” the hospital said.

Though the patient gradually recovered, the doctors faced another challenge– to get his muscles conditioned as he was bedridden for more than three months.

He was put on pulmonary rehab and gradually he started walking without any support, doing exercises with the physiotherapist, hospital sources said.

Kiran Telgote, Devanand’s brother, told PTI that he is confident his sibling will crack the interview.