MANGALORE: The departments of Otolaryngology and Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, will jointly organise a two-day live surgical workshop and a continuing medical education (CME) programme on cochlear implant and otology at its Attavar facility here from Friday.

The event will also feature the first ever cochlear implant surgery in this part of the State on a three-year-old child.

C.V. Raghuveer, dean of KMC Hospitals, told presspersons here on Wednesday that cochlear implant was a pioneering technology, which had revolutionised the treatment of hearing impairment across the world.

The procedure was first performed in Australia nearly 30 years ago. Then it was adopted in hospitals in India, and now KMC Hospitals had introduced it.

While the exact number of people with hearing impairment in India was not known, there were approximately 25,000 per 10 lakh people in rural areas and 7,000 per 10 lakh people in urban areas, he said.

Persons who received little or no benefit from hearing aids usually went in for cochlear implant.

This procedure could not be used as a blanket cure for impaired hearing caused by various reasons, he said. Kishore Chandra Prasad, head of the Department of Otolaryngology, said besides the live demonstration on cochlear implant, eminent resource persons in the field such as Mohan Kameswaran, Manoj M.P., Produl Hazarika, Rajashekar, Latha Prabhu and Jaspal Chowdhry would also conduct a live demonstration of other challenging surgeries in otology.

N. Yogish Bhat, MLA, will inaugurate the workshop.

Rajashekaran P. Warrier, Vice-Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, will be the chief guest. H.S. Ballal, Pro-Chancellor, MAHE, will preside over the inaugural function.

Sunil Deshpande, chief operating officer, KMC Hospitals; and Jayashree Bhat, head of the Department of Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology were present.

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