Imphal: Govt. distributes 6,000 hearing aids to enter Guinness record

In an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment along with other organisations on Saturday distributed 6,000 hearing aids to people at the indoor stadium of Khuman Lampak Sports in Imphal.

The event was organised jointly by the Programme for Prevention of and Control of Deafness, the National Health Mission Manipur in collaboration with Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Over 400 volunteers took part to oversee the entire operation for necessary arrangements for the record attempt. The volunteers were recruited from the R.K. Sanatombi College, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) and Manipur University.

The process started from 8.45 am and tried to achieve their targets within eight hours. A total of 6,400 patients were identified after screening 12,000 individual during 49 camps organised across the state and the total cost of the hearing aid is estimated to be Rs. 6.50 crore, sanctioned by the ministry.

A total of 150 chairs were arranged in which one doctor was required spend time with the patient for almost 10 minutes during the entire distribution process. Altogether 36 cameras were used to monitor the event which was rescored as a live feed to the Guinness office in London. The entire event was streamed live in the internet.

The organisers set a target to distribute 6000 hearing aids to the patients.

The current record for maximum number of hearing aid distribution is held by the state of Gujarat, wherein a record total of 600 hearing aids were distributed within 8 hours.

Around 10,000 people attended the event at the stadium, which has the capacity to house close to two and half thousand people.

The organisers had to arrange 6000 additional chairs to accommodate huge number of people inside the stadium and separate seating facilities were also arranged to facilitate additional people.