BENGALURU: The health department has decided to soon provide 500 free cochlear implants to children, below six years of age, who have a hearing loss. The initiative to make Karnataka free from hearing impairments is part of the health department’s ‘Health for All’ mission and is also meant to be in line with chief minister Basavaraja Bommai’s announcement of creating ‘Hearing Impairment Free Karnataka’ in the budget of 2022-23.
The health department has identified 1,939 children below the age of 6 years with a hearing impairment.
A spokesperson from the minister’s office said that the decision to provide the 500 free cochlear implants was made in a review meeting on Friday and while the date for the provision of cochlear implants is not yet revealed, he said, it will be announced soon.
Meanwhile, the health minister K Sudhakar, in a statement said that most of the children that have been identified with hearing impairment, have suffered from congenital deafness and the main reason for this is the consumption of medicine, viral infection, suffocation and shock in the mother during the prenatal period.
Sudhakar said, “This year, special attention has been paid to solving the problems of children with congenital hearing impairment, and the government has made all arrangements to provide free cochlear implants to 500 children to improve their speech and hearing ability.”
In addition to this, the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers who have helped in the identification of such children and have aided in the entire process are given an honorarium of Rs 250 as an incentive.
At present, 652 such children have been identified by audiology teams working under National Program for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) in collaboration with mobile health teams under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK). The eligible children will be sent to taluk and district-level hospitals for further evaluation and management.
Of the children identified, 586 children are receiving treatment at various levels. So far, 62 children have been operated upon and 258 children are being monitored, Sudhakar said.
The health department has identified 1,939 children below the age of 6 years with a hearing impairment.
A spokesperson from the minister’s office said that the decision to provide the 500 free cochlear implants was made in a review meeting on Friday and while the date for the provision of cochlear implants is not yet revealed, he said, it will be announced soon.
Meanwhile, the health minister K Sudhakar, in a statement said that most of the children that have been identified with hearing impairment, have suffered from congenital deafness and the main reason for this is the consumption of medicine, viral infection, suffocation and shock in the mother during the prenatal period.
Sudhakar said, “This year, special attention has been paid to solving the problems of children with congenital hearing impairment, and the government has made all arrangements to provide free cochlear implants to 500 children to improve their speech and hearing ability.”
In addition to this, the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers who have helped in the identification of such children and have aided in the entire process are given an honorarium of Rs 250 as an incentive.
At present, 652 such children have been identified by audiology teams working under National Program for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) in collaboration with mobile health teams under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK). The eligible children will be sent to taluk and district-level hospitals for further evaluation and management.
Of the children identified, 586 children are receiving treatment at various levels. So far, 62 children have been operated upon and 258 children are being monitored, Sudhakar said.
