Hearing impairment of 2000 persons saved

Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Audiology Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has salvaged the future of more than 2,000 persons who would have otherwise ended up at any of the country’s schools for the deaf.
Eighteen months into the operation of the unit, known as the Hearing Assessment Centre, a third of the number were referred for hearing aid.
The head of the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department of the hospital, Dr E. D. Kitcher, told the Daily Graphic that it had been established that 209 of the children, whose parents claimed they could not talk, were found to have hearing impairment.
He said after the provision of some hearing aid, the children were now talking and in the mainstream educational institution.
The hospital invested more than ¢1.4 billion to establish a new Hearing Assessment Centre and received support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which provided the equipment valued at $100,000.
It is furnished with the latest equipment to assess hearing disabilities in humans, from infants to the aged.
Dr Kitcher said since the establishment of the centre, the hearing capabilities of day-old babies were being examined for rectification.
He described the setting up of the centre as a good decision by the management of the hospital and that in developed countries, the Hearing Assessment Centre was the first point of call for persons visiting the ENT Departments.
That, he explained, was because an assessment would help the ENT specialist do a proper diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.
Dr Kitcher said the unit currently needed £23,000 to sponsor one medical person to train in the fixing of hearing aids and appealed to philanthropists for support.
He said admission had already been secured for the person but the Ministry of Health said it did not have the funds to sponsor the person.
He said currently, patients who needed hearing aid were referred to private institutions which had them.
Dr Kitcher said if the centre had the requisite trained personnel to fix the hearing aid, it would save the patient some cost.