According to a statement issued here, DMCH has become the only hospital in Punjab and neighboring states offering specialized services to patients with hearing disability. The statement added that this is the first-of-its-kind surgery being done in this part of the region.

A cochlear (ear) implant surgery to improve the hearing capacity of 4-years old girl Sonali (name changed) was recently carried out at DMCH by a team of doctors led by senior ENT consultant Dr AK Lahiri from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi; Dr Hemant Chopra, Professor and Head of the ENT Department at DMCH, and Dr Kapil Dua, Assistant Professor. Dr Manish Munjal, Professor of ENT, was also present during the surgery.

The patient Sonali was born with over 90 percent deafness and would not have been to speak either when she grew up, due to her impairment.

A talk on cochlear implant was also conducted, which was chaired by Principal Dr Daljit Singh. He stressed on the need for early identification of hearing handicap. According to Dr Hemant Chopra, “Cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores partial hearing to the deaf. Cochlear implants are especially useful for children, since they are able to join mainstream life after receiving the implant. One of the key factors impacting the success of a cochlear implant is the early identification of hearing loss and assessment for implant suitability.”

Dr Kapil Dua said that this first successfully performed cochlear implant surgery at DMCH has given a fresh ray of hope to the parents of the child, who will now be able to overcome the hearing disability and eventually start talking normally. He added that cochlear implant, when performed under appropriate conditions, can give a deaf person a useful auditory understanding of the environment and help him or her to understand speech.

Dr Dua got specialized training in well-developed cochlear implant program from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel.