Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41969801
The $1 device helping cancer patients speak again
By Carolyn Rice Innovators, BBC World Service
19 December 2017
Dr Vishal Rao is changing the lives of throat cancer patients in India.
Across the country around 30,000 patients a year are diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. For those in the latter stages of the disease the only option can be to have the voice box removed, leaving the patient without a voice.
Replacement prosthetic voice boxes can cost up to $1,000 (?750) which for many patients is unaffordable.
"The majority of our healthcare is private and cost prohibitive. That was the reason that I felt that there was a dire need to actually help these patients speak again, because speech is a right and not a privilege," says Dr Rao who is a surgical oncologist at Health Care Global in Bangalore...
The $1 device helping cancer patients speak again
By Carolyn Rice Innovators, BBC World Service
19 December 2017
Dr Vishal Rao is changing the lives of throat cancer patients in India.
Across the country around 30,000 patients a year are diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. For those in the latter stages of the disease the only option can be to have the voice box removed, leaving the patient without a voice.
Replacement prosthetic voice boxes can cost up to $1,000 (?750) which for many patients is unaffordable.
"The majority of our healthcare is private and cost prohibitive. That was the reason that I felt that there was a dire need to actually help these patients speak again, because speech is a right and not a privilege," says Dr Rao who is a surgical oncologist at Health Care Global in Bangalore...