The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved the release of funds for homegrown cochlear implant surgery for 10 residents, under a special programme dedicated to restoring the hearing ability of those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH),Professor Adewale Oke, who disclosed this while briefing journalists, stated that one of the beneficiaries, a 64 year old man, has already undergone the surgery successfully.
The CMD, represented by the Director, Clinical Services and Training, LASUTH, Dr. Ayoade Adedokun, noted that with the successful repeat of the exercise by local practitioners, the hospital is meeting its quest to provide excellent health service for the people of the state through local professionals.
He explained that cochlear implantation is a hearing device implanted into a deaf patient’s ear through surgery, thus helping to convert sounds into impulses which enable the patient to hear.
He emphasized that achieving the feat in LASUTH by home grown doctors is significant and cost-effective than having the surgery done overseas, noting that it would open the option to many Nigerians that have hearing impairment.
It would be recalled that LASUTH, in collaboration with Cochlear Foundation in Germany, last year performed the first-ever cochlear implantation, thereby becoming the first hospital in the country to successfully perform the surgery.
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