About 5,000 babies are born with ear defeats annually- Prof. Oke

pharmacy

As a means of eradicating deafness, especially among infants in the country,

the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, has gone into partnership with an organization, with the name MED EL, to end the hearing impairment disability among the populace.

Addressing journalists at the weekend, after the first successful middle ear implant surgery conducted in the institution, Prof. Adewale Oke, the chief medical director, LASUTH, said that No fewer than 5,000 babies are born yearly with ear defects in Nigeria.

According to him: “I know that 5, 000 new babies are born annually in Nigeria with ear defects, and this means they are deaf and sometimes the cause of their deafness is congenital, which is from birth.Some of these babies lacked some hearing mechanism in their ears, so the best way to restore the hearing is through surgery, which has not been part of the practice before now.

“With this new innovative surgery, the person whose hearing is impaired will be able to hear and the noble thing is that the surgery is still new in Africa,’’ he noted.

Oke said that the surgery to correct deafness was called “Bone-bridge’’, and helped to open up the middle ear of the patient.

Commending MED EL for the feat, he expressed his pleasure with the organization for identifying LASUTH as the best place to conduct the first of its kinf surgery in the country.

Explaining the commitment of MED EL to human wellbeing, he said they came on their own accord with the device and identified patients that can afford it. They did two implants and one surgery of Bone-bridge. This is highly commendable.

“The surgery does not come with any side effect, the implants are bonelike small microchips inserted into the ears, and the only challenge is that the patient will be taught how to talk.Learning speech is because the person has not spoken before, so he will require the aid of a speech therapist and audiologist,’’ he said.

Oke said that the organization that brought the experts had trained many of the indigenous doctors on the post-surgery requirements to enable them to continue with the innovation.

“LASUTH is happy to have recorded such a feat again; this has spelt our vision toward the provision of quality healthcare to our people,’’ he said.

NAN