From this article:
When you do a tracheotomy and you decide to do this operation, it is for a longer-term thing. No one knows that the tracheotomy will be permanent, but we're talking about leaving the device in for some time not only to secure the airway, but to allow doctors to do something they call pulmonary cleaning, actually cleaning the lungs. ...
Suctioning. He is too weak to cough up his own secretions. Used to do it all the time.