health

Implant promises to restore hearing

A 22-year-old woman who has been deprived of hearing by an ear infection since she was 9, will be one of the first people in Panama to benefit from a cochlear implant.

The implants for people who suffer severe hearing loss will be available for the first time in Panama in January 2008.

Gerardo Victoria, medical director of the Santo Tomás Hospital, made the announcement yesterday with executive director of the Instituto de Implantes Cocleares S.A., Cynthia Guy and other speech therapy specialists from Santo Tomás and the Hospital del Niño.

The Institute is headquartered in Ciudad del Saber.

The device, Guy explained, allows people not only to hear but to learn to speak as well.

The implant costs $20,000 and Panamanian and American specialists will operate for free, Guy said.

He pointed out that in countries such as Mexico, the cost of the implant might reach $79,000, almost four times as much as in Panama.

According to surveys by the Secretaría Nacional para la Integración de Personas con Discapacidad, there are 78,000 deaf people in Panama.