Cochlear implant infuses zeal among Jodhpur children

JODHPUR: The cochlear implant facility, which was started in Jodhpur six months back, has infused zeal for life in 5 children, 4 of whom were hearing impaired congenitally. These children got their implants at MDM Hospital here. Now, these kids are learning to hear and speak with the help of doctors of the ENT department of MDM Hospital.
"The first phase of auditory training is over and these children are learning to understand words and speak gradually and satisfactorily," said Bharti Solanki, HoD (ENT), MDM Hospital.She said that it was their first experience with the country's costliest implants but with funding from government and guidance from an Ahmedabad surgeon, these five implants have been a huge success.
"We are rehabilitating all the 45 children here, 40 of whom have had their implants at other hospitals in different towns," said Yogesh Solanki, who himself is attending to the rehabilitation exercise besides training the parents.
After getting the implants funded by the government, the hospital administration is also exploring the possibility of easing the heavy recurring expenditure on the parents of these kids. "We will write to the government for this so that the parents could be saved from the heavy recurring expenditure in maintenance of the hearing machine," said K C Agarwal, principal, SN Medical College.
Not only the children but their parents also appear quite relieved about the future of their children. "My daughter Pooja had lost her speaking and listening capacity due to some rare illness but after the implantation she is rapidly regaining her auditory and speaking ability back," said her mother Kamla from Phalodi. Pooja has again started going to school and is continuing her class 3rd.
With this, the hospital is preparing for cochlear implants of five more children, the sanction of which has already been obtained. Now with the word spreading to the people, the number of children is growing and the hospital has a list of 15 more children ready to be sent for sanction from the government.
The facility has infused a fresh hope among the people of entire Western Rajasthan, where the people had to either to rush to other big hospitals, where the implants were available at a whopping cost or had to be content with accepting the impairment as a curse from god or fell into the grip of so-called god men.
Jodhpur: Began in Jodhpur 6 months back, the Cochlear Implant has infused a zeal for life in 5 children, 4 of whom were hearing impaired congenitally. These children are learning to hear and speak these days with the help of the doctors of the ENT department of the MDM Hospital here.
"First phase of the auditory training is over and these children are learning to understand words and speak up gradually and satisfactorily", said Bharti Solanki, HoD (ENT). She said that it was the first experience for them with this one of the costliest implant in the country but with the implant funding by the government and guidance from a surgeon from Ahmadabad, these 5 implants have been a huge success.
"We are rehabilitating 45 children in all here as 40 of them have had their implants in other hospitals at different towns", said Yogesh Solanki, who himself is attending to the rehabilitation exercise besides training the parents also.
With free implant by the government, the hospital administration is also exploring the possibilities to ease out the heavy recurring expenditure, which will have to borne by the parents. "We will write to the government for this so that the parents could be saved from the heavy recurring expenditure in maintenance of the machine", said K C Agarwal, Principal of the SN Medical College.
Not only the children but their parents also appear quite relieved considering the future of their children. "My daughter Pooja had lost her speaking and listening capacity due to some rare illness but after the implantation she has fast been gaining her auditory and speaking senses back", said her mother Kamla from Phalodi. Pooja has again started going to school continuing her class 3rd.
With this, the hospital is preparing for Cochlear implant in 5 more children, the sanction of which has already been obtained. Now with the word spreading to the people, the number of children is growing and the hospital has a list of 15 more children ready to be sent for sanction from the government.
The facility has infused a fresh hope among the people of entire Western Rajasthan, where the people had to either to rush to other big hospitals, where the implants were available at a whopping cost or had to be content with accepting the impairment as a curse of god and driving the people in rural areas to fell into the grip of so-called god men.