Doctors Request PM Modi To Reduce Cochlear Implant Prices

Breaking norms, a bilateral Cochlear implant surgery was done in Jammu & Kashmir in a single sitting on a 10-yr-old child who was having profound degree of hearing loss with delayed speech and language development, at ASCOMS Hospital. The main aim of the surgery was to provide better hearing capacity as well as appropriate speech and language development to the child. Various doctors and health campaigners have written to PM Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in bringing down the price of the Cochlear implant, which now costs more than Rs 5 lakh on an average.

The surgery was performed by Dr Shalabh Sharma, Senior ENT Surgeon, Director of Cochlear Implant unit from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi under the supervision of Dr Rajesh Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of ENT, ASCOMS and his team comprising Dr Sachin Gupta, Dr Navneet Gupta and Dr Hardeep. The anesthesia team comprised of Dr Nandita Mehta, Head of Anesthesia Department, Dr Sunaina Gupta and others.

Doctors have stated that an estimated one lakh children are born each year with hearing impairment but the price of Cochlear implants has not dropped for the past 17 years. A Karnataka-based ENT surgeon wrote to the prime minister last month seeking his intervention. "My petition was forwarded to an official in the health ministry," N B Prahlada, the Chitradurga-based doctor, told Deccan Herald. Sources have informed that there are four companies that manufacture these products and import it to India. "The landing price of each implant is around Rs 2.85-3 lakh, but are sold at a price of Rs 5.5 lakh or upwards,"he said.

Here are a few facts to acquaint you with the cochlear implant:

A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear.
Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants bypass the damaged hair cells of the inner ear (cochlea) to provide sound signals to the brain.

The cochlear implant technology can help people who:

• have moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears
• receive little or no benefit from hearing aids
• score 50% or less on sentence recognition tests done by hearing professionals in the ear to be implanted
• score 60% or less on sentence recognition tests done by hearing professionals in the non-implanted ear or in both ears with hearing aids.

Many people have cochlear devices in both ears (bilateral). Listening with two ears can improve your ability to identify the direction of sound and separate the sounds you want to hear from those you don't.

With inputs from www.cochlear.com