Cochlear Transplant: Another 56 children treated at Bahria Town Hospital

126 children have received cochlear transplants, another 56 to receive transplants

LAHORE:

Bahria Town has begun its latest round of providing deaf and dumb children cochlear transplants free of charge.

This represents yet another round of fully subsidised surgery at the Bahria Town Hospital, Lahore.

So far, 126 children have received cochlear transplants, while the current round will see another 56 children get the fully paid facility.

Bahria Town is bearing all expenses for the surgeries. So far, it has spent Rs26 million on the surgeries, as each operation costs around at least Rs1.8 million. After the procedure a child can start his normal life within six months.

Director Donations Amber Shehzad Malik has asked the organisation to engage renowned surgeon Dr Iqbal Javed from England to conduct 10 surgeries per day with Bahria Town’s audiologist Dr Nadeem Mukhtar. The current round of surgeries will continue from November 13 to 18.

Amber Shehzad has already set up a speech therapy centre at the Bahria Town Hospital, Lahore, where the child patients also get post-operative care. Around 25 children get individual lessons at Pakistan’s sole speech therapy centre for cochlear implant patients.

Haider Ilyas of Gujranwala said that his three-year-old son was unable to hear or talk. “We saw the Bahria Town advertisement for free surgeries and took our son to the Bahria Town Hospital, Lahore,” Ilyas said. “Now, my son can hear and talk and gives response,” he said expressing gratitude to Malik Riaz and Amber Shehzad Malik.

Samina Sultan of Sialkot said that her family tried everything for their four-year-old son, but were unable to afford proper treatment due to financial constraints.

“We saw an advertisement in the newspaper and took our child to Bahria Town Lahore hospital for free surgery,” she said. She expressed gratitude to Malik Riaz for taking the initiative that has helped so many children to lead a normal life.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2014.