Pune: The city-based Command Hospital (Southern Command) has become the first government hospital across the country to procure and conduct successful piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implants (BCI) after its Department of Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) conducted two such implants in a 7-year old male child and an adult.
Active piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implant system is an implantable medical electronic device for hearing impaired patients [conductive loss (including aural atresia), mixed hearing loss and single-sided deafness]. The cost of the equipment has always been a concern, making its outreach limited.
The child was suffering from congenital external and middle ear anomalies with a severe degree of hearing loss while the adult was suffering from Single Sided Deafness (SSD). These patients were implanted successfully by Lieutenant Colonel (Dr) Rahul Kurkure, Neurotologist and Implant Surgeon under the guidance of Colonel (Dr) Nitu Singh, Senior Advisor & Head of Department (ENT).
There are certain groups of patients with conductive/ mixed hearing loss or patients with single-sided deafness, who are not candidates for cochlear implantation and do not benefit from hearing aids or middle ear surgery. To reduce the associated disability, it is imperative to provide hearing augmentation for better academic outcomes in children and social life in adults. Bone conduction implantation is the definitive hearing solution in such groups of patients to rehabilitate them, and the Armed Forces Medical Services were quick to realise this.
The ENT Department of Command Hospital (Southern Command) is a designated Neurotology centre of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). The department has been providing Implantable hearing solutions to dependent clientele for a number of years.
Director-General Armed Forces Medical Services Lieutenant General Daljit Singh and Director-General Medical Services (Army) Lieutenant General Arindam Chatterjee congratulated the Command Hospital (SC) and wished many more laurels to the institute.
The Command Hospital (SC), Pune is one of the premier institutes of AFMS, presently commanded by Major Gen B Nambiar. The hospital was recently awarded with the most prestigious “Raksha Mantri” trophy as the best hospital in the entire AFMS.
– global bihari bureau
