With 185 cochlear implants completed in a period of four years, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has topped the hospitals empanelled to perform the procedure under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) in Tamil Nadu. Now, CMCH has plans to start its own auditory-verbal therapy centre for the children who undergo the procedure.
On Thursday, external devices attached to four children, who underwent the implant, were switched on in the presence of CMCH dead B. Asokan, doctors from the ENT Department and representatives from the firm supplying the implant devices.
“The cochlear implant programme was started by ENT Department of CMCH in 2013. With external devices of four children switched on, the Department has done the highest number of cochlear implants in the State under CMCHIS at low cost,” said Dr. Asokan.
Ali Sulthan, head of the ENT Department, said that the four children had undergone the implant of internal device in December.
“The external device is fixed and synchronised with the internal device after the incision made for the implant is completely cured. It takes at least three weeks for synchronising the external device,” said Dr. Ali.
As the surgery is done on children, T. Sadagaopan and K. Santha Arulmozhi of Department of Anaesthesiology are backing the ENT team by ensuring precision in administering sedation for the procedure. Dr. Asokan said that the surgery would be done on children aged below 6 years. Children, who found fit to undergo the procedure by the ENT team of CMCH, would be sent to Chennai to get approval from Cochlear Implant Committee.
According to Dr. Ali, the cost of the surgery, which is covered under CMCHIS, has now come down to ₹ 4.3 lakh. Dr. Asokan added that an auditory-verbal therapy would soon be set up at CMCH itself for the post surgery care of the children. Currently, the hospital was outsourcing the therapy. He said that the centre would aim at offering one-year intensive training programme for the children to rightly get tuned to sounds with the help of the implant devices.
