West Bengal: Didi helps toddler who could not hear or speak,

The family members of a two-year-old boy from Nadia district’s Shantipur were at a loss when they came to know that a complex device worth Rs.7.50 lakh would be required to restore his hearing and speech. The toddler could not hear or speak since his birth.

However, his mother found a very special ally who came to their aid and ensured that the device called cochlear implant and related surgery have been provided to the boy for free at a government hospital. The ally is none other than West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself.

The child’s helpless mother decided to reach out to the maverick Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and went to her residence at Kalighat in South Kolkata. There she submitted a written appeal to the Chief Minister as the expenditure was beyond her means. Health Department sources said that the entire expenditure for the device and surgery has been funded by the State Government.

“I went to Didi’s (as Mamata Banerjee’s is often called) residence at Kalighat and submitted a written appeal to her to ensure that my son gets the device for free. She kept her word. Now my son would be able to speak and hear,” said Priya Roy, the child’s mother.

The surgery was conducted free of cost earlier this week at the government-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata by a team of ENT surgeons led by Dr. Arunava Sengupta. After the four hour-long procedure, the child has been recovering well. Hospital sources said that the bandages would be removed in about 10 days. Doctors are confident that the child will be able to hear and speak once the bandages are removed and the device is activated.

It has been a long struggle for Priya Roy. For the past one and a half year, she had to visit the National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped (NIOH) and SSKM Hospital for her son’s therapy.