Bhutan carries out its first cochlear implant surgeries

Thimphu [Bhutan], February 17 : Bhutan's first cochlear implant surgeries have been carried out by The National Referral Hospital in the country's capital Thimphu, The Bhutan Live reported.
A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that helps improve hearing for people with severe hearing loss. Three patients from about 20 adult applicants were selected to undergo the surgery. The first surgery was carried out on February 14 and the second one on February 15.
The cochlear implant surgeries were conducted by a team comprising two German doctors, a Bhutanese doctor and other medical staff.
The team took about three hours to complete each of the two surgeries.
One of the patients, Ugyen Lhendup, as quoted by The Bhutan Live, said: "I am lucky to be among the three people selected for the cochlear implant. I feel that I have been given the second chance to lead a meaningful and productive life. I am thankful to the hospital and the doctors for making this possible."
Another patient, Yeshi Tshering, said: "I have had a hearing problem since I was small. I couldn't hear when I was in class Xll when it was time to write our exams. It has been about two years since then."
Cochlear implant surgeries are carried out for people who are born deaf as well as for those who lose their hearing over time, according to the Head of the ENT and Head Neck Surgery Department.
He, however, said that the surgeries have to be carried out before a certain period of time, depending on the patient's case, to ensure their success.
Dr Phub Tshering, the ENT and Head Neck Surgery Department head, said: "The timing of the surgery is very important to achieve good hearing possibilities. The longer the duration of total deafness, the lesser the chance of giving back hearing. So, the earlier the better. In children, born deaf, the most ideal time to implant is around one year of age."
He said that for those born with hearing impairment, the ideal period for the surgery is within a year after birth.
Meanwhile, the three patients will undergo rehabilitation programmes for at least three months during which they will be given speech therapy, according to The Bhutan Live.
"After we do the cochlear implant surgery, the next important thing is to rehabilitate the patient because the person cannot hear the next day after we have done surgical implantation, it takes time. So normally after two to three weeks of surgery we switch on the machine and there is an entire process of rehabilitation," said Dr Phub.
The device's cost is estimated to be around Nu 800,000 in the market. The three implants for the surgeries costing Nu 2.5 million were donated by an Austrian company called the MED-EL Implant Company which is one of the leading manufacturers of cochlear implants in the world.
The next batch of surgery is expected to be carried out in September.