The Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos has conducted free ear cochlea implants and Tympano plastic surgeries for 10 patients, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.
NAN also reports that the surgical operations were carried out on Sunday in Jos, by a team of surgeons from the United States led by Dr. Douglas Green.
“The surgeries were carried out as a sub-specialty of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Green told NAN.
According to him, the team conducted ontology surgeries, primary tympano plastic surgeries, and cochlea implant surgeries.
He explained that the tympano plastic surgery entailed the reconstruction of the ear drum and the tympanic membrane, while the cochlea implant surgery entailed two parts, one of which places the receiver stimulator under the skin through surgery.
The other, he said, places the speech processor right behind the ear like a hearing aid.
He identified factors responsible for the rise in hearing loss to include the high incidences of malaria, saying that one of the complications of some malaria medications was hearing loss.
He further said that the high use of certain medications with toxicities could also trigger hearing loss.
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The other factors include ear infections which are very common in the environment, he added.
He said that infections such as childhood meningitis could also lead to hearing loss, adding that noise pollution in urban cities are also contributory factors.
He further disclosed that those who survived Lassa fever infection usually experience hearing loss as a complication, and lamented that hearing loss was not getting the desired attention because it was not as visible as other health challenges.
He called on the government and well-meaning individuals to invest in the health sector, particularly in the ENT section, and regretted that too many Nigerians were suffering from hearing loss.
He said that most patients with that health challenge had lost their jobs because of the impediment, while some had lost their marriages, because their spouses could not cope with them.
Prof. Edwin Eseigbe, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, who also spoke with NAN, thanked the team for the gesture.
“The procedures did not only help patients, but also helped the hospital to develop its capacity to carry out these surgeries,” he said, adding that the theatre and equipment used for the procedures were donated by the team.
NAN learnt that the surgeries are carried out by the team every year.(NAN