Addressing the first South Indian conference of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association, Dr. Jayaram said that the institute has selected Malappuram for the programme because deafness is considerably high in the district.

“In Malappuram, marriage between blood relatives are common. Deafness is considerably high among babies born from such marriages.”

The institute has formed a team to commence the programme to prevent deafness and provide free testing and hearing aids to the people.

The cost of a hearing aid, including the ear modes, rechargeable batteries and battery charger, comes to around Rs 1,400. But the institute will provide the device free of cost. Only a service charge of Rs 100 will be levied from the users.

The training programme includes early identification of deafness in children, immunising newborn babies, pregnant mothers and teenage girls against measles, mumps and rubella.

Public education on the possibility of children getting hearing disorders, giving every newborn baby free screening test to detect hearing disorders and training medical officers working in primary health centres to detect hearing disorders are other highlights of the national programme for deafness.

From Newindpress.com