Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 13: The state government in collaboration with the Union government has planned to intensify detection and treatment of deafness in eight districts of the state. A sum of Rs 3.85 crore has been sanctioned by the National Health Mission for the programme.
The districts are: Cuttack, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Khandhamal, Khurda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur while it will be expanded to other districts in the next financial year. This will be commissioned under the umbrella of National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness.
According to a World Health Organisation report, nearly 6.3 crore persons are suffering from complete or partial deafness in the country while the sample registration survey report of 2001 reveals that 291 persons in every one lakh population suffer from deafness in India. The Orissa scenario revealed that about 300 in every one lakh population in the state are deaf. Ironically, a majority of them are children below the age of 14 years. Every year, the state has been witnessing a surge of 3.8 per cent new cases of deafness of the total population of Orissa, according to reports.
However, experts say that 78 per cent cases of deafness are curable if detected at an early stage, adding that lack of awareness has led to a steep increase in cases of deafness in the state.
“Our focus under the aegis of the programme would be to conduct early detection, provide medical care to all, rehabilitate the deaf with the help of voluntary organisations and provide modern equipment and training to health institutions and paramedics,” said PKB Pattnaik, joint director of health department.
The state has appointed Subrat Behera, head of the department of ENT, SCB Medical College to be the technical adviser while Patnaik will be the state nodal officer for the proposed programme.