Cochlear implant project offers hope to Eastern Cape residents
A NEW organisation to assist both children and adults who need cochlear implants but who cannot afford them has been launched in Port Elizabeth.
Joy of Hearing also aims to create awareness of the challenges of hearing impaired people while also acting as an advocate for the hearing impaired.
Dr Eben Nel, one of the organisation’s directors, said: “There are many children and adults in the Eastern Cape who have severe to profound hearing loss, which can have a devastating effect on them and their families.
“Because of financial constraints they do not have access to cochlear implant technology.”
Nel is joined on the board by Loftie Fourie and Dr Jeff Govender.
“For children born deaf, the ability to reach their full potential will be seriously compromised,” Nel said.
“Cochlear implants provide the opportunity to restore hearing or provide hearing for the first time to these individuals and gives them the confidence to live a full and productive life.”
Nel said the cost of having the procedure, as well as the maintenance of the apparatus, put the procedure out of reach for most, with the Eastern Cape one of the poorest and most needy areas in South Africa.
There were also limited opportunities available for children to get cochlear implants in state hospitals, he said.
The new non-governmental organisation will be a welcome boost to the public sector.
The first cochlear implant at a government hospital in the Eastern Cape was performed at Frere Hospital in East London last month.
Earlier this year Health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi said the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, Walter Sisulu University and the University of Stellenbosch would work together to supply cochlear implants to Eastern Cape residents.
At the time there were no paediatric patients on the list in Nelson Mandela Bay for cochlear implants but there were 10 adults.
Nel said the organisation had Dr Francois Retief and Dr Iain Butler, ear, nose and throat surgeons who specialise in cochlear implants in the Eastern Cape, as their advisory board.
Nel’s wife, Marlize, received a cochlear implant herself to restore her hearing.
She said after she had suffered profound hearing loss she felt disconnected to the world.
“I experienced a dramatic disconnect with friends, family and the outside world, and felt isolated and depressed,” she said.
“After five months’ of total deafness, a cochlear implant in my right ear was successfully activated.”
Nel said children who received a cochlear implant before the age of two and adults who lost their hearing at some stage showed the best results.
She said children who were born deaf, but with their hearing nerves intact, had to receive implants before the age of five otherwise the brain could no longer learn how to hear.