Shivamogga: Doctors of McGann Hospital performed a successful cochlear implant surgery on a congenitally deaf young girl in Shivamogga, making it the first such successful surgery in central Karnataka. This apart, five more children are set to undergo this surgery at the hospital. The surgery was performed by the hospital's ENT department. Renowned cochlear implant surgeon and national president of Otolaryngologists, Bengaluru, Dr Shankar Madikeri, operated on the child. Dr Madikeri showed the procedures of the surgery to the doctors of the hospital.
The girl, who underwent the surgery hails from Naraspura village in Shikaripura taluk. Her father, Banappa, told ETV Bharat, "We were sad after our child was born deaf. We took her to many hospitals and even went to the Davangere district, but she could not be cured. Finally, doctors were informed about this treatment being conducted under the government scheme at McGann Hospital. We agreed to the doctors suggestion of surgery and now our family is very happy because she can hear".
A sophisticated cochlear implant surgery facility has newly been launched in McGann Hospital, a teaching hospital of SIMS Medical College, which is operating in six districts, including Shimoga. A sophisticated speech-hearing centre has been started at McGann Hospital and children with hearing impairments are screened with advanced technology.
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For every 1,000 children, two are born deaf. If the hearing impairment is mild it can be treated and the child is helped with hearing aids. But, children, who are completely deaf at birth can't be advised hearing aids as the auditory nerve inside their ears are inactive. Cochlear implant surgery is performed on such children. The government has allowed this surgery on children till the age of five. This surgery costs around Rs 10 to 12 lakhs. The State government has included this treatment under the Ayushman Bharat scheme and is being done completely free of cost.
The hospital has targeted to perform 500 cochlear implant surgeries in Karnataka this year. Under the National Deafness Eradication and Control Scheme, pre-operative check-ups, cochlear implant devices, surgery and post-operative hearing rehabilitation treatments are all free of cost. Of this, the speech rehabilitation treatment is complex and takes around 8 to 10 months.
"The surgery is said to be successful only after the machine's signal is emitted correctly. As this is an expensive surgery, it is good that the government has linked this scheme with Ayushman Bharat. Our main objective is to send deaf children to schools like other children through treatment", Dr Madikeri told ETV Bharat. Dr KS Gangadhar, Head of the ENT department, expressed his happiness at the surgery being performed in this hospital. Cochlear implant surgery has been developed in India during the last 15 years even though there has been continuous research for the last 50 to 60 years.
