SMS Hospital witnesses state’s first bone bridge implant

Rajasthan’s first bone bridge implant, performed on a 12-year-old boy at Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, was telecast live for resident doctors at the Jaipur Medical Association Hall on Wednesday.

Bonebridge implant is done on children born with hearing deficiency since birth. In such patients, sound does not reach the nerve. “Through this implant, the ENT experts bridge the gap between the bone and the nerve to develop hearing capacity in the patient,” said Dr Pawan Singhal, at the workshop on cochlear implants, organised by the department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery of Sawai Man Singh Medical College.

The cochlear implant is done on congenital deafness due to weakness in nerve among children, while bone bridge implant is done on people aged five years and above.

The bone bridge implant was performed my cochlear implant expert Dr Rajesh Vishwakarma, who has retired from Ahmadabad’s BJ Hospital, said Dr Singhal, the organising secretary of the workshop. “The implant costs approximately Rs 6 lakh. We urge chief minister Vasundhara Raje to make this implant also free like the government has made cochlear implant free for deaf and mute children, so that more and more people are benefitted,” he added.

Dr Vishwakarma said the implant connects a deaf person part with mainstream of the society, who otherwise remains a burden on the family and society.

Dr Man Prakash Sharma, the organising chairman of the workshop and also the head of the ENT department at SMS Hospital, said this implant will help many people with congenital deformity in ears and no hearing system, but implant being very costly, very few will be able to afford it. “90% of people will be unable to afford such costly implant, so government should make it free,” he said.

Dr Subodh Shrivastava, Dr Prakash Mishra, Dr Sunil Samdani, Dr Nishi and Dr Sunita were among those present on the occasion. Dr Singhal extended special thanks to anaesthesia department for extending support during live surgeries at the workshop.