Consanguineous marriages is the major reason for hearing loss in children in the State, according to Mohan Kameswaran, senior consultant ENT surgeon, Chennai.
He was delivering a lecture on “dare to dream-a deafness free Tamil Nadu” at the joint meeting of Indian Medical Association and Association of Physicians of India held at Hotel Sangam here on Sunday.
While stating that in Tamil Nadu, six out of 1,000 children have profound hearing loss, Dr. Kameswaran said this was six times the international average and three times the national average.
This makes Tamil Nadu the deafness capital of the country and this was mainly because of the deeply rooted cultural practice of consanguinity, according to him.
He said that in a study analysing 50,000 children in the State, it was found that 67 per cent of deafness was due to consanguinity.
Offering suggestions to improve the situation, he said that deafness was curable if there was early intervention.
“Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s comprehensive health scheme is a boon in this case because any child born deaf is entitled for a free hearing implant,” he said and added that Tamil Nadu was the only State with such a scheme to solve the scourge of deafness.
Dr. V. Ramasubramanian, specialist in infectious diseases, Apollo Hospitals Chennai, who delivered a lecture on “Use and misuse of antibiotics”, explained how and when antibiotics should be prescribed and the kind of antibiotics that should be prescribed for a particular health issue.
“Prolonging the course of the antibiotic where it is not warranted, leads to antibiotic resistance among the disease-causing agents,” he said while revealing that antibiotic resistance had become a major cause for concern today.
According to him, the timing of prescribing and administering antibiotics played a crucial role in preventing morbidity of critically ill patients.
Busting myths related to antibiotics, Dr. Ramasubramanian also spoke about the reasons for antibiotic failure and the issue of misuse of antibiotics.
P. Seshachalam, President, IMA Tiruchi branch, G.S. Sudhager, Chairman API Tiruchi branch and eminent doctors from different parts of the district were present at the event.
