The NTR Vaidya Seva Trust has accorded permission to government general hospital (GGH) here for performing Cochlear implant surgeries free of cost to the deaf and dumb children below five years of age for treatment of the deformity. 

Disclosing this at a press conference here on Tuesday GGH Superintendent M Raghavendrarao said that the surgery though was being done in corporate hospitals for the past ten years, it was for the first time such facility was being provided at the government general hospitals.

Only two hospitals –GGH Kakinada and KGH Visakhapatnam were selected in Andhra Pradesh for performing this vital, sensitive and yet the same time very expensive implant surgery which would normally cost around Rs 7 Lakhs to Rs 8 Lakhs. 

A team of doctors headed by Dr GSN Murty has undergone the required training for performing these surgeries, he added. Dr Murty head of the department ENT wing said that the surgery would take two hours and require specialist surgeons besides expert anesthetist. 

He said the screening test for the children required the Cochlear implant surgery would be ACdone at the ENT department on August 28 and basing on the test results, the patients would be selected for the surgery. He advised the parents of the children to bring the Aadhar card and also the Arogya Sri card for registration and screening of their wards.