Al Ain: Tawam Hospital, part of Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, (SEHA) – the UAE’s largest healthcare network, continues the success of its Cochlear Implant Program with the completion of nine procedures since the program’s launch in December 2018, the latest of which was performed on a 15-month-old child.

Part of the Hearing, Balance & Cochlear Implementation Clinic that falls under the ENT department, the program offers world-class treatment methods to patients with profound, bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss.

Dr Ahmed Al Shamsi, Acting Division Chief, ENT, Tawam Hospital, said: “An approved treatment method since the 1980s, cochlear implementation achieves excellent results for children when performed at an early age, and is further complemented with post-operative auditory rehabilitation, also offered at Al Ain Hospital.”

The patient was first diagnosed with hearing loss as a result of a congenital deformity at birth. Following a thorough medical examination, Dr. Ahmed Al Shamsi, along with the wider team at Tawam Hospital performed the procedure on both ears. The implants were then activated 20 days later, to reduce exposure to anaesthesia and stimulate the hearing nerve on both sides at the same time on the same day, helping speed up her acclimatization and speech learning process.

Commenting on the cochlear implant procedure, the father of the patient, said: “My daughter showed great results, with clear auditory response when operating the cochlear. She is now able to learn new things and does not lag behind her peers in any way. As any parent can understand, we were extremely happy and emotional to hear her voice when she said “Mama and Papa” for the first time. We are thankful to the entire team at Tawam Hospital for their incredible care and support.”