Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Artificial Limbs Manufacturing (ALIMCO) have signed an MoU at AAI Headquarters, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, New Delhi for Rs. 13.4 Crores to conduct Cochlear Implant surgeries of 200 Hearing Impaired Children on pan India basis under the Corporate Social Responsibility of AAI .The above MoU is signed in presence of Anuj Aggarwal, Member (HR & Planning), AAI; D.R. Sarin, CMD, ALIMCO and Sanjeev Jindal, GM-CSR, AAI. This is the largest Cochlear Implant project in the country under CSR.
Airports Authority of India, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India. AAI) manages a total of 125 Airports, which include 11 International Airports, 08 Customs Airports, 81 Domestic Airports and 25 Civil Enclaves at Defence Airfields etc.
ALIMCO is a “Not for Profit” Central Public Sector Undertaking working under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, registered under section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 and has been manufacturing various types of quality aids & appliances for last 45 years to meet the requirements of the Divyangjan, across the country. ALIMCO has been serving on an average around two lakhs of disabled population every year and has supplied approx 42 lakhs of aids & appliances.
Under this MoU, AAI will sponsor Cochlear Implants surgeries for 200 Hearing Impaired children through ALIMCO. An estimate shows that more than 10,000 children in India are born with congenital hearing loss and require Cochlear Implant annually. This is a major CSR initiative of AAI which will help the children to completely overcome their hearing disability, thereby enabling them to hear and speak coherently. AAI has already sponsored 115 Cochlear Implants previous years under its CSR initiative which was a grand success.
In view of the overwhelming response and successful results in the past AAI decided to double the number of children this year. Two Hundred Hearing impaired children belonging to poor families will get the benefit of this initiative and will become fully independent to lead a normal and productive life. This effort will not only bring these underprivileged children to the mainstream of life but will also contribute to national economy.