A man has registered an FIR with the Mumbai police after the external part of his wife's cochlear implant device, called a sound processor, was stolen by thieves.
A man has registered an FIR with the Mumbai police after the external part of his wife's cochlear implant device, called a sound processor, was stolen by thieves.
Costing Rs 2.5 lakh, the device, along with other things, was stolen from the Andheri home of Pradeep Bamne, a tailor in a small chawl in Andheri, in April this year. The device belonged to his wife Prerna.
Forty six-year-old lost her hearing abilities in March 2012. After doing lots of tests, the family realised that she had permanent hearing loss. The cause of the sudden hearing loss was unknown but doctors said it could be the effect of drugs she had consumed in the past.
Finally, they met an ENT specialist in KEM Hospital. Prerna was advised to undergo cochlear implant surgery, costing Rs 5.8 lakh. They came into contact with Dr Hetal Marfatia, professor, unit head, ENT department at KEM.
Prerna successfully underwent the surgery in 2012. The entire money for the implant was raised with the help of different NGOs.
In April 2015, there was a theft in her house. The dry box, in which she had kept the implant in the night to get rid of moisture, was stolen. She lost her processor.
"There are two parts to an implant. An internal device, which is fitted surgically and the external device, which is worn behind the ear – sound processor. When patients go to sleep, they remove the external device (sound processor). The device is kept in a dry box with silica gel so that moisture doesn't destroy it. This improves the life span of the implant," said Dr Marfatia.
"Now to hear again, Prerna need to buy the processor, which costs Rs 2.5 lakh. She has to raise funds. It's very unfortunate," she said.
When the processor is wet with sweat or rainwater, one must dry it up and put it in a box to prevent it from getting spoilt.
"She has not been hearing anything for the last seven months. Now she speaks loudly. I have registered an FIR at DN Nager police station. I told the police we don't want anything else which we lost, but please try to recover the processor. This is of no use to anybody. We will try to raise funds for the processor. But I find it very difficult," said Pradeep.
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