In a unique initiative, the Maharashtra Health Department will use mobile units to check the hearing abilities of newborns in the state to diagnose and start their treatment early, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Thursday.

To be launched as a pilot project in Gadchiroli, Jalna and Pune, the project was conceived by Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule and will be taken forward by Abhijit Raut of the Disability Rights Development Forum of the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan.