Cochlear implant surgery rules changed on medical grounds

Hyderabad, June 18 : Health Minister Kondru Murali Mohan on Tuesday informed the State Legislative Assembly that the age limit for performing cochlear implant surgery on deaf and dumb children under Arogyasri has been reduced from 12 years to two years on medical grounds.

Replying to a question raised by MLA J Ranga Reddy during Question Hour, the minister said that as per medical experts, Cochlear Implant Surgery should be performed only on children below two years as surgeries on children above two years would fail.

The minister said that the Arogyasri Trust has the capacity to operate only 200 children every year although more than 2,000 Deaf children are born every year. Hence, as per the expert opinion, all these 200 surgeries are currently being done only on children below two years to maximise the benefit from the surgery, he said. INN