KASC partners with IHK to do successful cochlear implant surgeries

The Kampala Audiology and Speech Centre(KASC) in collaboration with International Hospital Kampala(IHK) have carried out a successful round of cochlear implant surgeries in which six ears were operated upon.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Wednesday, Flora Kamya, the Managing Director at Kampala Audiology and Speech Centre said because of lack of human resource to carry out the surgeries, they worked in partnership with MED-EL an Austrian based company that is involved in doing research in the field of hearing loss and manufacturing of implantable hearing systems to help achieve their goal.

“These(MED-EL) not only helped us carry out successful cochlear implant surgeries but also train local hum resource so that in the future this can be done locally by local surgeons,” Kamya said.

“With people who can perform these surgeries locally, a lot of money spent on travels abroad to do the same surgeries can be saved as they can be performed locally.”

According to Wikipedia, a cochlear implant is a surgically implanted neuroprosthetic device that provides a sense of sound to a person with moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss.

Cochlear implants bypass the normal acoustic hearing process, instead replacing it with electric signals which directly stimulate the auditory nerve and this way, a deaf person can be able to hear again.

The World Health Organisation estimates that globally, over 466 million people have a hearing loss of some degree and this is expected to increase to 630 million by 2030, and 900 million by 2050 if appropriate interventions are not put in place.

In Uganda, over two million people suffer from hearing problems.

Profound deafness in childhood affects the development of auditory speech perception, speech production and consequently language skills.

Ordinarily, a cochlear implant surgery costs $60,000 but according to Mohamed El Disouky, the African Development and Regional Manager for MED-EL, they decided to do the same for $24000 catering for everything.

“Ours was not only carrying out surgeries but also train local surgeons to have capacity to do it without our help. There is need to see that children can be able to hear again,” Mohamed said.

According to Dr.Michael Oling, the Medical Director at IHK, as part of their efforts to improve the health standards in the country so as to reach international levels, they agreed to partner with Kampala Audiology and Speech Centre by providing a state of the art theatre from where the surgeries were performed.

“This is a testimony that we have created an environment for such developments and we shall continue pioneering technology advancements like minimal invasive surgery and open heart surgeries among others,” Oling said.

“We hope that these surgeries become routine locally.”

In an interview with the Nile Post, Edison Abebe a parent whose son got a cochlear implant surgery said he was hopeful he would hear again.

“My baby was born prematurely as a twin but got infections at an early age resulting into the death of the twin brother,”Abebe noted.

He added that at six months they realized the boy could not hear anything neither could he react to any sounds.

“As he grew up, he could run towards me whenever I returned home but whenever I was leaving home and he was not facing my direction, he could not hear the sound of my vehicle leaving. I realized something was wrong with his ears.”

Abebe said they tried intervention from various health centres until they were directed to the Kampala Audiology and Speech Centre for assistance.

“Life has been frustrating. We have been so low in spirit but when this chance for a transplant surgery came, we welcomed it with both hands. We are hopeful our son will hear again.”

According to KASC’s Flora Kamya, they hope government can assist in making awareness to the public of the implant surgery services so that many people know about them and the cost also reduces.

“If the National Insurance Scheme bill recently approved by cabinet is passed, it would do a great job in helping to finance the surgeries which are still expensive,” Kamya said.