Cochlear Implants Done for 2 Siblings for Free
GUNTUR: ENT specialist Dr R Vidyasagar of NRI General Hospital at Chinakakani in the district performed the surgeries for cochlear implants on two siblings suffering from hearing impairment.
In a press release here Wednesday, Dr Vidyasagar said that the surgeries were performed on four-year-old Harshini and her six-year-old brother Ranjith, who were congenitally affected by hearing impairment. The children belong to a village in Karimnagar district in Telangana.
While the surgeries were performed on July 31, the children were discharged from the hospital Wednesday.
As cochlear implant is very expensive, superintendent of hospital Dr Butchibabu and Dr Vidyasagar had contacted Vinay, an entrepreneur from the US, to help the poor parents. Responding to their request, Vinay and his friends donated `12 lakh for the surgery, `6 lakh per child.
After evaluation of the children, the bone behind the ear was drilled carefully by Dr Vidyasagar and then a tiny hole of less than 1 mm was made in the inner ear. The internal component electrode was then very carefully inserted into the hole to the inner ear. The hearing improvement was confirmed intra-operatively by Neural Response Telemetry for both the children.
On the 21st day after the surgery, the machine will be switched on and the children will start hearing external sound. This sound has to be made understandable for the kids, which will be done by an audiologist and an auditory verbal therapist.
The team included Dr Vidyasagar, Dr K Blandeena, Dr G Lakshman Prasad and anaesthetist Dr Obed John Prakash.
The doctors and the management felt that if the facility for such surgeries was sanctioned to NRI General Hospital under the ‘Arogyasri’ scheme, it would be helpful to the poor.