UAE's Red Crescent medical team performs Somalia's first electronic cochlear implant

HARGEISA, Somalia May 6, 2010 (WAM)- - A medical team mobilised by the UAE Red Crescent Authority, or RCA, to Somalia has surgically implanted an electronic cochlear implant on a deaf Somali lady's ear in the first-of-its-kind operation in the Horn of Africa country.
In the 2-hour procedure at Al-Manhal Hospital, Hargeisa City, the team which is led by UAE ENT Consultant Mazen Al-Hajiri placed the small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to Safiyyah Nasruddin, 22, who, in an accident 4 years ago, had sustained head injuries that eventually led to complete hearing loss and the inability to walk and control her feet.
Al-Hajiri said the hearing aid will restore hearing to the lady who has been suffering a lot. The cochlear implant consists of an external portion behind the ear and a second portion, intracutaneous, that is surgically placed under the skin. The implant has the following parts.
Father of Ms Safiyyah expressed gratitude for the UAE's humanitarian initiatives and the efforts made by the RCA team. Two more Somali persons with variant degrees of hearing loss will be given electronic cochlear implants by the RCA's team in the Somali capital. The team continues to treat more Somalis through tympanoplasty, a reconstructive surgery for the tympanic membrane and bone conduction restoration.