4-year-old made to wait a year for ear surgery

Mumbai: A four-year-old boy awaiting a nod from the government for the past one year to undergo a cochlear implant ear surgery will not face further delay after an activist tweeted a minister about the child’s plight.

If the surgery was not performed on time, little Aftab Alam Khan would have become permanently deaf. The little boy’s father Abdul Rahim Khan who was now getting too worried approached Right To Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali over the undue delay. Aftab, who lived his parents in Saki Naka East in the suburbs had been waiting for the Cochlear Implant surgery since November 20 2014. Galgali says he merely sent a message on Twitter to Union Social Justice Minister Thavar Chand Gahlot complaining about the delay and urged the minister to initiate action against the errant officers and the doctors for their negligence.

Quick cognisance

What disturbs Galgali is the apparent apathy on the part of the administration, hospital and doctors. “The government approval came on November 20 2014. The Ali Yavar Jung National Institute sent a letter on February 12 2015 to one Dr Bachi Hathiram intimating him of the case, says Galgali. After visiting the hospital for more than 45 times, Aftab was checked only six times. “Accordingly a report was made and again sent to the Ali Yavar Jung Institute. Is this how a centrally-run reputed institution makes a child wait for more than a year get his hearing back?” asks Galgali.

Bollywood actors Salman and Arbaaz Khan had donated Aftab a hearing implant machine worth Dh6,300 but the machine could not help as only surgery could be of use.