World Hearing Day was observed at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) and the Government Stanley Medical College (SMC) Hospital on Wednesday. On the occasion, two children, who had undergone cochlear implants at RGGGH earlier, had their devices switched on.
This year, the theme of World Hearing Day was ‘Hearing Care for All’. Taking part in the event at SMC, R. Narayana Babu, Director of Medical Education, said early identification of hearing loss was important.
Mohan Kameswaran, director of the Madras ENT Research Foundation, highlighted the various types of hearing loss and evolution and revolution in hearing management in recent times.
He spoke on the development of science and technology of cochlear implants, and about the difficulties faced during the initial phase of the cochlear implant programme; now, it is incorporated under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS).
J. Sultan, managing director of the MNJ Group of Companies, donated 50 hearing aids to children.
The hospital’s ENT department has done more than 20 cochlear implants in two years.
Hospital dean P. Balaji said the ENT department was capable of handling all types of diseases causing hearing loss under the CMCHIS. Head of ENT Gowrishankar was present.
At RGGGH, the ENT department and Speech and Hearing department organised an awareness programme. E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH, said 340 cochlear implant surgeries had been performed under the CMCHIS at the hospital.
Of this, 33 children had undergone cochlear implant surgeries within a short span of two months from December 2020 to February 2021. All these children were tested, diagnosed, operated and are undergoing habilitation auditory-verbal therapy, he said.
He emphasised the importance of neonatal hearing screening using oto-acoustic emissions and brainstem evoked response audiometry for newborn and early identification of hearing loss in ototoxicity and noise induced hearing loss. The dean distributed free digital hearing aids for adults and elderly persons. A total of 168 hearing aids were dispensed during the pandemic, a press release said.
