Expanding Access: Cost-effectiveness of Cochlear Implantation and Deaf Education in Asia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the cost-effectiveness of cochlear implantation (CI) with mainstream education and deaf education with sign language for treatment of children with profound sensorineural hearing loss in low- and lower-middle income countries in Asia. STUDY DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness analysis. SETTING: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka participated in the study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Costs were obtained from experts in each country with known costs and published data, with estimation when necessary. A disability-adjusted life-years model was applied with 3% discounting and 10-year length of analysis. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of device cost, professional salaries, annual number of implants, and probability of device failure. Cost-effectiveness was determined with the World Health Organization standard of cost-effectiveness ratio per gross domestic product (CER/GDP) per capita <3. RESULTS: Deaf education was cost-effective in all countries except Nepal (CER/GDP, 3.59). CI was cost-effective in all countries except Nepal (CER/GDP, 6.38) and Pakistan (CER/GDP, 3.14)-the latter of which reached borderline cost-effectiveness in the sensitivity analysis (minimum, maximum: 2.94, 3.39). CONCLUSION: Deaf education and CI are largely cost-effective in participating Asian countries. Variation in CI maintenance and education-related costs may contribute to the range of cost-effectiveness ratios observed in this study.

Practical and ethical issues for delivery of advanced ENT services in the Indian subcontinent: efforts to 'Bridge the Gap'.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The Indian healthcare industry, one of the largest in the world, caters for 1.3 billion people. The modern middle class addresses its needs by visiting private hospitals, which provide comprehensive services but at a high cost. The low socioeconomic individuals visit government hospitals where all basic services are available, but there is a struggle to provide advanced healthcare. In order to rectify this dichotomous approach, new initiatives are being implemented to provide uniform healthcare across the society. RECENT FINDINGS: Technological advancements have been rapid and modern methods have reached the shores of India at the same pace as in the western world. In otolaryngology, advanced services especially for restoration of hearing loss and multimodality treatments for head and neck cancers have been two areas where practical and ethical dilemmas have existed to provide the most optimal treatment at subsidized costs. This article explores these two areas as examples to understand the specific problems encountered in delivering advanced ENT care in a low-resource setting in a large populous country. SUMMARY: Introduction of government health insurance schemes have helped the poor to make use of advanced healthcare. The highlight of this scheme has been the inclusion of expensive interventions like cochlear and auditory brainstem implantation, whereby cost of the device, surgery and habilitation have all been delivered cost free for eligible children.