Jammu: A team of specialised doctors gave new life to two congenital deaf Kashmiri girls at Shri Narayana Hospital at Katra in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Hospital Spokesman on Saturday said that the girls belonging to Khanyar and Bemina region of Kashmir were given a new lease of life by the philanthropic work of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
"Both these girls had bilateral profound hearing loss and since they couldn’t hear, they couldn’t speak," Gulshan, mother of one the patients said that they had lost all hopes as the only recommended treatment was cochlear implant surgery and the cost of surgery was beyond their financial capability but Dr Rohan Gupta Consultant SMVD Narayana Superspeciality hospital understood their helplessness and recommended their case file to Board for financial help and CEO Shrine Board took no time to help this poor girl and give her an entry into the world of sound and music.
Mr. Ajaz Ahmad Dar, father of the other girl praised the Lieutenant Governor, who is also chairman of the shrine board and CEO of the shrine board for giving a new life to his daughter.
His entire family is very happy and thankful to the entire team of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Kakryal, Jammu, he added.
The surgical team comprised Padmashri Dr. JM Hans, Dr. Sunil Kotwal (consultant Ent) and Dr. Rohan Gupta (Consultant ENT) while the anaesthesia team was led by Dr Sarita. Dr Trupti and Dr Santosh.
Both the patients are healthy and are doing good informed Dr. Preeti Gupta (Consultant Paediatrics).
Dr (Brig) Man Mohan Harjai, Chief administrative Officer, SMVDNSH said that giving these children the gift of hearing is a very Noble cause.
"We are proud to be the only centre of excellence in the state for Cochlear Implant surgery, which can give the bliss of hearing to such hearing impaired children and help them achieve their dreams in life," he said and added, "we have been extending financial support to needy families of such patients as we believe that no one should be handicapped with silence in their lives. We will continue doing such work in future to bring changes in the life of people of Jammu and Kashmir."
Padmashri Dr. JM Hans and Dr. Sunil Kotwal, mentors for the cochlear implant programme at SMVDNSH, appreciated the social initiatives undertaken by the Shrine Board in financially assisting the poor and the weak sections of the society.
Dr. Rohan Gupta told that the implants will be switched on after 3weeks and from then onwards with the help of vigorous AVT, the girls will enter the world of sound.
He further added that children with such problems have developmental delay of speech, language and cognition, which hampers the child’s education and career, leading to loss of physical and economic productivity and emphasized that a simple screening test at birth and timely intervention can transform the life of a child.