By Our Reporter
Shillong: The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) has urged the state government to extend its support by sponsoring Cochlear implant surgery to poor patients of the state.
Cochlear implant surgery is performed on totally deaf patients who do not benefit even from the most sophisticated hearing aids around. Over a million people around the globe have benefitted from the surgery.
Highlighting this at a Continuing Medical Education (CME) on Cochlear implants organised by Department of ENT at NEIGRIHMS here on Friday, NEIGRIHMS Director Prof Singh said, “We have approached the state government to help needy patients requiring the surgery. It is important that the state comes forward to the rescue of such patients, a large majority of whom are children, racing against time, as surgeries done at an early age acn be a key factor contributing to their recovery.”
He also informed that NEIGRIHMS has qualified and experienced manpower like ENT surgeons, audiologists and speech therapists, to diagnose, operate and rehabilitate such patients.
Meanwhile, invited faculty, Prof I Tyagi from Lucknow said that Cochlear implant is a miracle of Science.
“For the first time, any sense in the body can now be almost completely recovered after it is lost”, he said.
“About 1 million patients around the world have benefitted from Cochlear implants. But in India, only fewer can be operated due to poverty,” Prof Tyagi said adding that “Many state governments have already understood the need to sponsor such surgeries and started funding cochlear implant surgery for poor patients”.
In the Cochlear implant surgery, an electronic device is implanted into the ear of the patient which converts sound into electrical pulses and presents them to the hearing nerve in the ear.
Early implantation is the key for optimal outcome especially in children who are deaf by birth and should be operated before they attain 2-3 years of age.