Karnataka Health Department has relaunched its cochlear implant programme that had come to a standstill since 2018-2019. As many as 67 children have been evaluated and are awaiting surgeries, officials said.
Under the programme, a three-year-old male child from Ramanagaram underwent the surgery on Wednesday at the State-run K C General Hospital. State Health Commissioner D Randeep, who announced this in a tweet, “As Karnataka gears up towards shrinking the childhood deafness burden, a three-year-old boy from Ramanagaram gains a strong foundation to a joyous childhood and equitable learning opportunity. Kudos to the team of Cochlear Implant experts from KC General Hospital.”
Under the original programme titled “Shravanadosha Mukta Karnataka” (Deafness Free Karnataka) started in 2016-2017, a hundred cochlear implant surgeries had been done for children under the age of six years. However, the programme came to a halt in 2018 due to lack of funds.
Then, the State was using funds from the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), a centrally-funded scheme, for the implants. The programme was implemented through the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST). However, the State stopped receiving funds for this scheme in 2018 on the grounds of duplication of schemes. Sources said funds had been stopped as a similar scheme offered by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment clashed with Karnataka’s scheme. Subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and all health schemes and elective surgeries came to a standstill.
Ramesh Kaulgud, ENT and cochlear implant surgeon at K C General, who is also the State Joint Director for National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), said children aged below six years with severe to profound hearing loss/ congenital deafness are eligible for getting a cochlear implant.
“Now, surgeries under the programme are being done in K C General and Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health in Bengaluru. Children from across the State, who are found to be requiring cochlear implant surgery after evaluation by the cochlear implant committees at the district and State level, are sent to these two hospitals for surgeries,” he said.
Pointing out that 67 children had been evaluated for the surgeries in these two hospitals in the coming days, the doctor said, “As of now SC/ST Welfare funds are being used to procure implants and hence only children from these communities will be the beneficiaries. However, the State is planning to set aside more funds under the general pool for this programme in this budget.”
Asserting on the importance of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) screening in newborns at early intervention centres in district hospitals, the doctor said postoperative intensive auditory verbal therapy is also most important. “We have an MoU with S R Chandrashekar Institute of Speech and Hearing in Bengaluru and All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysuru for this,” he said.
B R Chandrika, State nodal officer for National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness, said the department is planning to expand the programme across the State.
