Hearing restored: Healing their ears

DUHS performed free-of-charge cochlear implant surgeries on 13 children

KARACHI: Parents of 13 children with hearing disability did not know that they will see a day when their children will be able to hear.

These children were born with hearing disability and the treatment was unaffordable for their parents. However, when the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) performed successful surgeries on them without any charges, the children became capable of hearing for the first time in their lives.

Besides the 13 children, a 35-year-old man was also operated upon. All of them were treated at the five-day 'Cochlear Implant Workshop' held at the Ojha campus of the varsity last month. According to DUHS pro vice-chancellor Dr Umar Farooq, the implants were activated on Thursday.

"DUHS conducted successful surgeries for the fourth time under the cochlear implant project. Their implants are being switched on today," he said at a press briefing at the university on Thursday.

Dr Farooq, who is also in charge of the Cochlear Implant Programme, organised lectures, seminars and live demonstrations to train 50 ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, postgraduates and junior doctors. The 14 cochlear implant surgeries were performed without complications during this workshop.

The families of the treated patients were very happy about the development. "Aizam was one-year-old when we found out about his hearing impairment," said Aizam's father, Asim Waseem. "But we could not afford the expensive treatment. We are very pleased today as we could not have seen this day without the help of DUHS."

Dr Farooq said that around 421 children have registered with the cochlear implant centre at the Ojha campus from across the country and that 27 surgeries have been performed so far. The treated children will now be sent for speech therapy and will be able to speak within six months or two years.

According to the father of four-and-a-half-year-old Muhammad Huzaifa, his son was only a year old when he came to know about his hearing disability. "I really wish that all the children who are registered with the DUHS get their implants so that their parents come out of pain like we did," said Hamid Jabbar, who works at a bank.

Thirty-five-year-old Tahir, who was unable to listen for the last five years due to a disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, also underwent surgery. "We paid for the implant as we wanted him to lead a normal life," said Tahir's wife. "He is the sole breadwinner of the family."

Looking after implants

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that can help provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. It is very different from a hearing aid. Hearing aids amplify sounds so they may be heard by damaged ears. In contrast, cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve.

According to Dr Farooq, it is helpful for the doctors if parents of the registered children are literate or are at least aware of the implant. "They need to know how and when to switch it on and off and when it should be cleaned," he said. While the guarantee of an implant is 10 years, the device lasts a lifetime, said Dr Farooq.

Donation

One surgical implantation can be extremely costly. Dr Farooq said that it can cost up to Rs1.6 million in the public sector and Rs2.5 million in the private sector.

"We needed funds to continue with the project," he said. "DUHS vice-chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan allocated Rs10 million from the university fund, which helped us run the cochlear implant programme."

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2015.