Karnataka   

‘Take advantage of advances to help hearing impaired’

Sujana S. Chandrashekhar

BANGALORE: India has about two million hearing impaired children. A good number of such children have been evaluated and declared fit for cochlear implant surgery.

The country should take advantage of the advances made in the field of otology, otolaryngology and neurotology and help the hearing impaired to lead a normal life.

Speaking to The Hindu, Sujana S. Chandrashekhar, Director of New York Otology, which is devoted to hearing and balance care, and Clinical Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Staff Physician at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary Cochlear Implant Centre, said that providing subsidy would go a long way in helping the poor children undergo the operation and lead an independent life.

Dr. Sujana, a Mysorean was one of those felicitated by the Cochlear Implant Group of India at its sixth annual conference here.

Her grandfathers, Tumkur Narayana Iyengar and H.C. Kapanipathi Bhatta served as chief engineers of the K.R. Sagar project.

She is also related to Kannada litterateurs A.N. Murthy Rao and Pu. Thi. Narasimhachar.

Dr. Sujana, who speaks fluent Kannada, said cochlear implant should be done when the children are two or three years of age.

She said that Joshua, a hearing impaired child at R.V. School, Jayanagar, Bangalore, had undergone a cochlear implant and was doing well.

There are many schools for the hearing impaired in the country and efforts should be made to admit the children there after the implant, she said.

Dr. Sujana said India had a large number of good surgeons, but funding the programme was a big challenge.

In Andhra Pradesh, under an insurance scheme, a large number of children had undergone cochlear implant surgery.

Such an exercise could be done in Karnataka also, she felt.

Dr. Sujana is recipient of many awards and has participated in missions in various parts of the world.

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