20th May 2022

~Department of ENT under the guidance of Dr. Dinesh Vaiya and his team at K.J Somaiya Hospital & Research Center  brings hope beyond hearing aid  by contributing  to a social cause and changing young lives~

Mumbai, 20th May 2022- Department of ENT, under the guidance of Dr. Dinesh Vaidya and his ENT team at K J Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre successfully completed the first Cochlear implant today. This implant was provided free of cost with the support of a donor. This implant was done by Dr. Meenesh Juvekar who is a renowned ENT specialist in Mumbai and cochlear implant mentor at K J Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre. K. J Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre provides a universal neonatal hearing screening facility and helps to do the surgery at a reasonable cost. A cochlear implant involves implanting a device into a hearing impaired child. The best age group for this implant is 1-4 years. With the help of this implant, the kids would be able to hear and even speak normally.

Typically, In a Cochlear implantation, the device consists of an internal device and external device, which is implanted  just above the ear inside the skull bone. The cochlear Implant bypasses the damaged part of the ear and stimulates the hearing nerve and sends sound impulses directly to the brain.

A basic implant costs around 6 lakhs which cannot be afforded by many. So, in light of this K J Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre extends support & has taken this noble initiative of helping hearing impaired kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds. There are certain schemes by the Maharashtra Government which provide these implants to kids who are born with hearing loss.

The implant that K J Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre provided to the baby is imported from the Advanced Bionic from the US and has a 20-year warranty with great quality. Initially, the implant would be switched on after 15 days following which regular speech therapy is given which will aid the child to have normal speech.

Dr. Meenesh Juvekar on account of this noble social cause carried out by Somaiya hospital quotes that “I have been in this profession since the past few years and during the tenure of my practice I have seen many parents coming with their kids who are hearing impaired to get the treatment done and many who want to get it done but can’t afford the price of the treatment and hence have to suffer in silence and live with it. I am very elated that K J Somaiya Hospital & Research Center has taken this initiative to better the lives of these young kids by providing them with these implants.  We aim to reach out to those most in need, to enable them with the gift of hearing and bring about a sustainable, positive change in their lives' '.

Dr. Dinesh Vaidya, Professor & HOD, Department of ENT, KJ Somaiya Hospital & Medical College said, “We have been trying to implement the cochlear implant programme at our center since last one year and I am happy that finally we could start it today. I am confident that this facility at our hospital will provide services to children and adults from all classes of society. We are having all investigative facilities required for this programme plus an excellent team.

Dr. Varsha Phadke, Dean, K J Somaiya Hospital and Research Center said, “Children are the future of the nation. We follow a comprehensive, systematic, and humane approach to identify individuals from lower socio economic backgrounds & extend our assistance in the areas of medical treatment. We help in strengthening health systems through bolstering technology & empower the underprivileged kids with compassion".

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About Somaiya Ayurvihar :

The Somaiya Medical Trust founded by Padma Bhushan Shri K J Somaiya in 1991 continues to carry forward his legacy of ‘Being of Service to Humanity’. The medical trust is the Somaiya Trust’s contribution to the welfare of the nation, by building quality medical institutions that make healthcare accessible to all and creating well-qualified medical and nursing professionals to meet the ever-growing health needs of the country.

Somaiya Ayurvihar, spread over 28-acres in the heart of Mumbai city, comprises a Charitable Hospital, Medical college, Physiotherapy College, and a School and College of Nursing.

For more details, please contact:

Pushpendra Dhansoia | +91 90290 37173 | pushpendradhansoia@somaiya.edu

Pooja Choudhary|+91 96198 55711| pooja.choudhary@pitchforkpartners.com