Zubair Qureshi
Six deserving young patients received Cochlear Implants at the Children Hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) by a United Kingdom-based Charity organization, International Medical Relief Agency (IMRA).
The procedure was conducted in collaboration with Islamabad Courses of ENT (ICE). According to details, a UK-based medic, DrNoweed Ahmed from James’s Cook University hospital, performed six cochlear implant surgeries in two days as part of the programme started last year in October, 2022 in which six children received cochlear implants as well.
The surgery, which costs around Rs3.5 million has opened a gateway for such procedures in public-sector hospitals reducing the cost of surgery in general.
Executive Director (ED), PIMS Prof Dr Imran Sikandar while commending the flawless procedure performed by the UK doctor and team said the procedure was performed on children who were deaf by birth.
“I’m glad that our hospital is now becoming the hub for the cochlear implants as the team examined over two dozen cases and decided to do cochlear implants on six poor deserving children.”
“We want to institutionalize it, which is why it has been decided to provide all possible facilities to the quarters concerned, however we have been facing severe funding problems and will contact the government to provide resources so that the facility would be provided to the most deserving children,” Dr Sikandar said.
The programme is also appreciated by Prof Dr Amjad Chaudhary, principal FMC and Head of the Paediatric Surgery department, PIMS. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in Oct 2018, approximately 10 million people in Pakistan had a hearing impairment of some sort.
In children, hearing is a prerequisite for the development of speech. So children who are deaf by birth or have trouble hearing due to some disease before development of speech, if not treated on time, can never develop adequate speech abilities which along with deafness is a lifelong disability,” he said.
