Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population has increased the number of hearing referral hospitals and centres to 34 up from 30 centres in all governorates. All the centres are provided with the latest medical devices and supplies, within the initiative for early detection and treatment of hearing loss in newborns.
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, said that the initiative, since its launch in September 2019, has provided audiological examination services to four million 263,000 children, including 9,050 non-Egyptian children residing in Egypt.
Abdel Ghaffar indicated that 466,241 children were transferred for re-examination by conducting a confirmatory test, a week after the first examination.
He added that the initiative comes within the framework of the expansion of comprehensive health coverage, and children’s access to high-quality healthcare, by following the latest treatment methods, which is reflected in providing a healthy and safe life for newborn children.
Abdel Ghaffar noted the increase in the number of audiological examination centres for children, starting from the day of birth until the age of 28 days, to 3,500 health units in all governorates of the republic, explaining that the child’s failure to pass the second test does not mean that he has a hearing impairment, but it is an indication that the child needs advanced examinations at the referral centres of the initiative.
Ahmed Mustafa, the Executive Director of the Initiative for Early Detection and Treatment of Hearing Impairment and Loss in Newborns, emphasised that early detection of hearing impairment or loss spares the child hearing impairment and facilitates treatment opportunities, in addition to avoiding communication problems that could cause psychological crises for the child.
He added that nursing staff had been trained to work on the sound emission device in health units, in addition to training data entry personnel affiliated with health units in all governorates of the republic, to record newborn infant data on the initiative’s website, to create a complete file for the child that includes his health condition, in addition to having a field for audiological examination in birth certificates
