Trichy: Seventeen children born with congenital deafness in Trichy can now hear again, thanks to free-of-cost cochlear implant surgeries done at Mahatma Gandhi memorial government hospital under the chief minister's comprehensive health insurance scheme (CMCHIS).The parents of these children met with the Trichy district collector Dr K S Palanisamy on Saturday to express their gratitude that their children will now have a better quality of life.Cochlear implant surgeries carried out in three phases gave a new lease of life to 17 children. The first of its kind surgery in MGMGH was conducted on November 18, 2016. MGMGH doctors, mentored by Padma Shree awardee Dr S Mohan Kameswaran, an ENT specialist from Chennai, carried out the same surgery on M Varshini, 03 and M Navaneethakrishnan, 06. On January 18 and 19, another eight children received the free cochlear implants. Another six children were operated on February 1 and 2 this year.The hospital administration led by dean Dr S Mary Lilly, initiated the process to bring cochlear implant surgery to MGMGH, to help poor patients. The cost of each surgery is Rs7lakh.Following the successful surgery on two children in November 2016, the district administration took effort to identify such disabled children in the district. The workers of integrated child development scheme (IDCS) services were involved in the identification of such children. They were able to identify 30 such children from Trichy, Pudukkottai and Karur districts.They were put through a detailed evaluation process including CT scan, MRI, audiological evaluation and a few other tests. Twenty-seven of them were selected for the surgery under CMCHIS. A total of 2.96 crore has been spent for the surgery and speech therapy process.ENT surgeon Dr A Satheesh Kumar, who was part of the team that conducted these surgeries, said that the children are now going through the rehabilitation process. "Now, they can hear in close range. This should improve over time. The rehabilitation process will continue for one or two years, depending on the condition of each patient," he said.The district administration is still in the process of identifying children with such disabilities for this free surgery.

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