Viagra’s a life-saver now

This news is from TIMES OF INDIA dated 17 Feb. Ahmedabad Issue
Call it Viagra’s double dash. The sex pill with many ‘‘satisfied’’ customers is apparently emerging as a lifesaving formulation in ICUs here. It is not just men with performance anxiety, but even parents of children with life-threatening conditions who are praising the blue pill. Viva Viagra.

At Jaslok Hospital, a team of nephrologists, headed by Dr MM Bahadur, recently revived a 15-year-old girl with high BP and kidney failure. The effort is being lauded by the European peer-reviewed Nehprology, Dialysis Transplantation Journal as ‘‘the first such case reported worldwide’’.

Last month, an eight-day-old baby, born prematurely, with ‘‘right to left shunt’’ (impure blood mixing with pure blood) survived after being given Viagra. ‘‘Even if chemists must have wondered why my resident doctor wanted Viagra at 8 in the morning, it was a worthwhile effort as the baby stabilised taking Viagra dissolved in water,’’ recalls Dr Subhash Daga of Cama Hospital.
Both cases prove that Viagra, which, incidentally, failed trials as a blood pressure reduction agent, can work wonders in experienced hands.

MIRACLE DRUG

• Viagra reduced escalating blood pressure of 15-yr-old girl with kidney failure when nothing else could do the trick for 5 days.

• 8-month-baby, born prematurely with problem of impure blood mixing with pure blood survived after being given Viagra.