Lending an Ear

It is the most gratifying moment for him, when he helps a deaf child move from an isolated shell into a mainstream lifestyle. “The contended smile on the face of the child and his parents gives me immense pleasure,” he says. We are talking about Dr. Milind Kirtane, whose magic of cochlear implant procedures has helped about 460 patients allowing them to listen to the world’s motley of sounds.
ENT, a field that helps restore the most vital functions of ear, nose and throat, has always remained ‘non-glamorous’ and so are the people contributing towards it. Dr. Kirtane belongs to this club of people who has immensely contributed towards the field of ENT. While he pursued his MBBS from Mumbai University followed by Diploma in Otorhinolaryngology, Fellow of College of Physicians & Surgeons and MS in ENT, his special interest lies in cochlear implants. He truly enjoys teaching and has been conducting workshops in microsurgery of the ear for the last 30 years, both in India and abroad and in sinus endoscopy for the last 15 years.
Currently, he handles multiple positions - Prof. Emeritus at Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital (KEM), Mumbai; Consulting ENT Surgeon at PD Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre (Hinduja), Mumbai; ENT Consultant at Prince Aly Khan Hospital, Mumbai; ENT Consultant to The Governor of Maharashtra and Consultant in Neuro-otology to The Indian Armed Forces.
In 1970s, in the era of no computers and basic electronics, he developed Optokinetic Stimulator and a new recording device for Craniocorpography. Further, he established a cadaver dissection laboratory at KEM for teaching new surgical procedures to trainees not only in ENT but all surgical specialties. This Founder President of the Sinus Endoscopic Society of India was also the Editor of the International Neuro-otological and Equilibriometric Society – (Germany) Proceedings, from 1983-2003.
With respect to accolades, Dr. Kirtane became the first member from India to be elected to the Barany Society, Sweden in 1983. He was awarded the Tato-Claussen Sponderpreis award for his work in Neuro-otology in Asia Pacific at the XXIV International NSE at Bad Kissingen on March 2002. In 2005, he was awarded the BC Roy Award in recognition towards his contributions in developing ENT in India.
Dr. Kirtane enjoys playing badminton and loves listening to all types of music. Besides seeing more smiles on his patients’ face, this simple, soft-spoken surgeon wishes to spend time with his family and restart his old hobby of gardening.

MM: Why ENT?
I wanted to opt for a speciality and the debate was between ENT and ophthalmology. I chose ENT as it involves microsurgery, unlike ophthalmology and tiny structures always fascinated me. Also, my next choice was plastic surgery, because it is more about restoring functions, which is my interest.

MM: Experience in cochlear implant procedures…
Cochlear implant is around for over
two-and-a-half decades. Although this surgery had been done in India earlier, it started with a single electrode implant, where results achieved were not as dramatic. So we were hesitant to opt for cochlear implants. Moreover, it involved lot of money and it was thus difficult to convince the patients. 
While I was training in cochlear implants from Australia, I saw the results of multi electrode implant, which was truly an eye opener. I spoke to patients post-implant and was surprised to see them talk like normal people. We thus agreed on performing cochlear implants with multi electrode. After coming to India, the first surgery was successfully performed at Hinduja in 1996 with remarkable results. As time passed, we got more patients and till date