The Vice President, Mohammad Hamid Ansari said that deafness and Cancer are two significant challenging health problems for ENT doctors. He was inaugurating the 64th Annual Conference of the Association of OTOLARYNGOLOGISTS of India in Allahabad on Wednesday.

Highlighting the gravity of deafness, the Vice President said that it affects 6 to 7 per cent of the Indian population and is one of the major problems, referring to the growing numbers of hearing impaired persons around the world. Mr Mohammad Hamid Ansari said, it is estimated that about 28 crore people are suffering from hearing loss, of whom two-thirds are from developing countries.

Addressing a large gathering of ENT specialists and Otolaryngologists from India and abroad at Moti Lal Nehru Medical College in Allahabad, the Vice President called to emulate the National Programme for Prevention of Blindness and initiate a National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness which was started as a pilot project five years ago in some parts of the country. He also highlighted the fact that cancer related to ear, nose and throat that constitutes about 40 per cent of body cancer, also needs urgent attention of the nation. Calling upon ENT surgeons, Mr. Ansari said that the doctors not only need to treat the cancer patients coming to them at an early stage, but also to educate the people regarding the factors responsible for the disease.

Mentioning Tobacco related deaths as one of the most worrying factors on Wednesday, the Vice president said that Tobacco could kill people in so many ways that it is a risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death in the world.

The four day conference of OTOLARYNGOLOGISTS is being attended by more that 3000 ENT specialists from India. About 40 ENT specialists from UK, Canada, France, Russia, Australia and Pakistan are also taking part in the Conference.