India
National programme on prevention & control of deafness to be launched in India
By Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India
Oct 11, 2005, 00:51

A national programme on the prevention, early identification and control of deafness is expected to be launched soon in India. The Planning Commission is presently looking into the draft of the programme and approval is expected early. This was revealed by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss in Mysore today, at the 39th Anniversary observance of the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing. He said deafness is a non-visible problem unlike blindness etc. with multiple impact, which is no less than blindness or orthopedic problems. Taking into consideration the critical need for a national initiative on the problem, the government decided to launch a country- wide action to control the same.

Underscoring the importance of the programme, Dr.Ramadoss said, it should incorporate both speech and hearing as they are complementary to each other. The education of masses, genetic and educational counseling, maternal care, sanitary-hygiene, immunization against mumps, measles and rubella, hearing screening, noise control, man-power generation, training of medical officers and grass root workers, strengthening speech-hearing institutes and ENT departments, as well as speech therapy services will be different components of this national programme.

The Health Minister pointed out that the programme also aims at providing these services nearer to the doorsteps of the people. The All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, will be one of the nodal centres for implementing the programme. The Minister urged the Institute to help strengthen, the capacity of other institutions in different parts of the country to tackle the problem. The possibility of opening a few regional centres like that of the Mysore Institute, is also being explored, so that wider coverage is extended for the succour of those affected by deafness, Dr.Ramdoss said.

A survey of schools has indicated that a sizable segment of children i.e. 10 to 13 per cent of them, have some kind of speech problem - vocal abuse leading to voice problems, articulation problems, stuttering, middle ear disorders, leading to silent conductive loss and most importantly learning disability. The National Sample Survey Organisation providing the most comprehensive statistics on the prevalence of hearing problems among the population says that there are 291 persons per lakh population with hearing loss, 207 persons per lakh have speech/language problems and 94 per lakh suffer from mental retardation in the country. Hence, a total of 592 persons per lakh population have some kind of hearing or speech disorders. Interestingly, the prevalence of the problem is more among men than women and rural people are more vulnerable than those in urban regions.

All rights reserved by www.rxpgnews.com