A gift of hearing to the children born with a congenital hearing loss

Ever wondered, how life around you would sound without sound? Sounds horrible, right? Hearing – no doubt is one of the best sensory gifts to mankind, but not all of us are so fortunate. According to statistics, around 32000 children in India are been born with congenital impairment annually.

Explaining the condition, Dr. Ravi Bhatia, ENT Specialist, Sarvodaya Hospital, Faridabad says – ‘Some children are suffering from Meningitis disease and some are low birth rate babies or premature birth babies (born too early). These children require Intensive Care for a longer duration after their birth’.

Kanika, a three year old girl from Haryana would not respond to her parents’ calls. It took her parents a while to find out what’s wrong with her. Coming from the weaker section of the society, Kanika’s parents could neither independently bear the cost of the expensive Cochlear Implant surgery nor had access to it.

A ray of hope came through when they learned about an exclusive programme ‘SBI Shravan Shakti’, run by SBI Foundation in association with Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing (Divyangjan).

Kanika’s mother says – ‘Through Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Learning, we got to know about SBI Foundation’s initiative could help us avail the Cochlear Implants surgery for our child and enable her to hear.’

SBI Foundation, the CSR arm of State Bank of India, the initiative through SBI Shravan Shakti to bridge the gap by bringing children born with a congenital hearing loss between 0-5 years of age to a normal stream of life by implantation of cochlear implants at the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disability at two major regional centres based in Kolkata and Delhi NCR which will help these children lead a productive life in the future.

Dr. V.P. Shah – Asst. Director, Northern Regional Centre, AYJNISHD says, - ‘In India, 32,000 children are born with congenital hearing impairment every year. The Government of India, under its ADIP scheme has made a provision to provide cost Cochlear Implant surgery for only 500 children per year. It is insufficient considering the number of children suffering from it and support from external parties is needed. SBI Foundation has supported the cochlear implants of 67 children till now.’

Thanks to SBI Shravan Shakti, Kanika can listen to her parents and can dance to the tunes of her favourite songs along with 66 other children that got treated under the program.