A three-year-old boy, tuned his ears to the first sound he had ever heard when his grandpa clapped from behind
Abin John Ninan, a three-year-old boy, tuned his ears to the first sound he had ever heard when his grandpa clapped from behind at a demonstration room of the ENT Department at Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PIMSR) in Thiruvalla on Thursday.
The boy screamed aloud, hearing the sound. Incidentally, it was also his third birthday.
ENT specialist at PIMSR Vivek Saseendran, and P.A. Jacob, anaesthetist, conducted a successful cochlear implantation on him on January 17.
Abin, son of Cyriac Ninan and Lizy Mary Ninan, of Kattappurathu House in the Upper Kuttanad village of Mepral, had been suffering from a series of health problems associated with Congenital Rubella Syndrome, said Dr. Saseendran. He had undergone surgery for congenital cardiac ailment, and bilateral congenital cataract too, earlier. It took six hours for the successful completion of the cochlear implantation on both ears of the child.
The hospital authorities had made the switching on of the implant on Thursday a grand celebration at PIMSR as it was the boy’s third birthday. Fr Shaji Vazhayil, Pushpagiri chairman, inaugurated the function. Suresh David, PIMSR medical superintendent, presided. Mathew Punakkulam, Pushpagiri director, and Dr. Vivek spoke.
According to John Babu Panackamattom, grandfather of Abin who has been looking after the child all these years, the boy with delayed developmental milestones is now very much active The hospital authorities said that the boy would be given speech therapy at the specially designed centre with state-of-the-art facility at Pushpagiri.
Dr. Vivek said the boy was suffering from Bilateral Sensory Neural Deafness, which was associated with his Congenital Rubella Syndrome. The total cost of the two implants was Rs. 10.16 lakh, besides surgical expenses of Rs. 1 lakh, hospital sources said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by RadhaKrishnan Kuttoor / Pathanamthitta – February 06th, 2015