Today humanity celebrates World Day Cochlear implant, A technology that has benefited more than 500 people in Cuba Deaf and deafblind peopleEspecially children.
On this day in 1957, the world's first cochlear implant was performed by French doctors André Journeau and Charles Ayres, who made history by making a completely deaf person hear.
Among the specialized services provided by the Cuban health system is the National Cochlear Implant Programme, which was developed 25 years ago, giving priority to children with multiple disabilities, including deafness and blindness.
This technology is an electronic device that converts audio signals into electrical signals, which are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound.
Cuba performed its first single-channel cochlear implant in 1987, and 10 years later began multichannel cochlear implants within the Hermanos Amigeras Hospital in Havana.
The program follows a multidisciplinary, cross-institutional and cross-sectoral approach to the specialized cochlear implant and complex ear surgery service, based at the Borås Marfan Children's Hospital in the capital, and linked to all provinces of the country.
About 30 children annually are candidates for a high-tech implant device to achieve language rehabilitation and social integration, Dr. Sandra Bermejo, specialist in otolaryngology and head of the aforementioned specialized service, told Prensa Latina.
The specialist explained that to date, 565 transplants (10 of them bilateral) have been performed on 552 patients (38 deaf-blind), and more than 100 potential candidate children are currently undergoing evaluation.
Bermejo emphasized that this program has the support of the government and the Ministry of Public Health, is available to all parts of the country and is completely free, including technological updates.
(With information from Prensa Latina)
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