Say no to hearing loss in children

Bahrain is set to intensify screening efforts in newborns to bring down the cases of hearing loss at birth, which often goes undetected. Various researches have shown that detection and intervention for hearing loss prior to six months result in significantly better outcomes. As a result, newborn hearing screening has become universal in maternity hospitals under the Ministry of health in the Kingdom, however, no such system has been placed in private hospitals.

This is going to change soon, as the new nationwide initiative focuses particularly on this aspect. The move will help doctors give the infants appropriate treatment at the right time, Consultant ENT surgeon, the head of the cochlear implant team and head of ENT department at SMC Abdulkarim Alsaei told Tribune. According to him, the initiative will be implemented by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with National Health Regulatory Authority by the end of this year or early 2019.

“Currently, we have a newborn screening programme in the maternity hospitals under the Ministry of Health. However, no system obliges the private hospitals to do so,” he said. “We have requested the NHRA that no maternity hospitals be granted a license without making sure that these hospitals have hearing loss screening for the newborns.

Alsaei said that the economic impact of not having screening for newborns could be detrimental. “There should be a proper estimation of the economic impact of deafness. The government spends to aid the disabled, but in the end, there is no true estimation of how much they spend.”