In a first, Command Hospital, Pune, became the first government hospital across the country to procure and successfully conduct piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implants.

The Department of Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) at Command Hospital (Southern Command) conducted two piezoelectric Bone Conduction Hearing Implants (BCI) in a 7-year old male child suffering from congenital external and middle ear anomalies with severe degree of hearing loss and one adult with Single Sided Deafness (SSD).

The ENT department of Command Hospital (Southern Command) is a designated Neurotology centre of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMS).

Active piezoelectric bone conduction hearing implant system is an implantable medical electronic device for hearing impaired patients [conductive loss (including aural atresia), mixed hearing loss and single sided deafness].The cost of the equipment has always been a concern, making its outreach limited.

There are certain group of patients with conductive/ mixed hearing loss or patients with single sided deafness, who are not candidates for cochlear implantation and do not benefit with hearing aids or middle ear surgery. To reduce the associated disability, it is imperative to provide hearing augmentation for better academic outcome in children and social life in adults.

Bone conduction implantation is the definitive hearing solutions in such groups of patients to rehabilitate them.

These patients were implanted successfully at Command Hospital (SC), Pune by Lt Col (Dr) Rahul Kurkure, Neurotologist and Implant Surgeon under the guidance of Col (Dr) Nitu Singh, Senior Advisor & HoD (ENT).

A premier institute of AFMS, Command Hospital (SC), was recently awarded with the most prestigious “Raksha Mantri” trophy as the best hospital in the entire AFMS.