Rainbow Children’s Hospital opens dedicated paediatric ENT centre

CHENNAI: Rainbow Children’s Hospital on Monday launched ACENT (Advanced Centre for Pediatric ENT Care), a dedicated facility for the treatment of hearing, airway and sleep disorders in children and newborns.

The hospital said the centre would offer diagnosis, treatment and long-term management for conditions including hearing loss, airway abnormalities, recurrent ear infections and sleep-related breathing disorders.

ACENT is the first centre in Chennai to use ultra-thin 1.2 mm paediatric endoscopes for sedation-free airway assessment in newborns and young children. According to the hospital, the technology enables doctors to examine small airways in an outpatient setting and identify complications at an early stage.

Hospital authorities said the centre recently treated a one-week-old infant admitted with severe airway obstruction, feeding difficulties and oxygen dependence. The infant was discharged after undergoing a specialised airway procedure.

“At Rainbow Children’s Hospital, our focus has always been on delivering specialised paediatric care with advanced technology and multidisciplinary expertise,” said C Gunasekhar, facility director of the hospital.

Dr R Nithya, consultant-paediatric ENT, said, “Early diagnosis of ENT conditions in children can help improve hearing, speech, sleep and overall development outcomes.”