Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeries - The Primus Super Specialty Hospital in Abuja has begun ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeries, recording a successful ear operation of some patients who were born deaf but after the operation have begun to hear and speak.
The Chief of ENT Services, Cochlear Implant from the hospitals' mother branch in New Delhi India, Dr Sumit Mrig said the new technology helps restore hearing to a patient who must have lost it during sometime of his life or at birth.
Speaking on the procedure, Mrig explained that a device is placed underneath the skin known as the sound processor to capture sound and convert it into digital code, saying, "the sound process transmits the digitally coded sound through the coil".
Mrig who said that he has had over 100 successful surgeries added that the repair of one ear would cost $24, 000 (N3.7million) at the hospital but was quick to say if done in Nigeria, it would take away the cost of accommodation, travel stress and visa, and any other complications that has to do with travelling abroad.
According to him those who are eligible for such surgeries include those with pre-lingual congenital deafness, and do not benefit from hearing aid, those with profound hearing loss especially in adults even those that are advanced in age.
He pointed out that those who lip read or communicate using sign language, or those who could hear when they were born but lost it sometime in their life could also be operated upon to restore their hearing.
He said, "To ensure that children are saved from infection or ailments that would cause them their hearing, all parents must as a matter of responsibility take the child for Otoacoustic Emission, a procedure that tells if the child's hearing is good or not."
Speaking on the device used to repair deafness, Dr Sumit Mrig said that it can be worn for a life time, while the microphone has a two year warrantee which can be replaced if broken.
By Ruby Leo
Daily Trust/12/03/2013