Social Development Ministry to set up foundation for children with hearing loss

ENT specialist Dr Tang Ing Ping explaining about Abang Romzie’s (on bed) condition to Mawan. Rafeah is at right.

KUCHING: Sarawak needs a foundation to help low-income children suffering from hearing loss, and the Social Development Ministry will kick-start it.

The foundation aims to raise funds to purchase cochlear implants for children with hearing disability and to pay for expenses they incur while seeking treatment such as passage and accommodation.

Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom came to this conclusion yesterday after visiting 11-year-old Abang Romzie Rosli who is suffering from progressive hearing loss since the age of five but had delayed in seeking treatment due to the lack of financial means.

Mawan said due to the general needs across Sarawak and the fact that hearing loss has been a problem without a solution; something must be done to help these children when they are still young.

“If they can install the cochlear implants when they are still young, they will have the same opportunity to learn and develop as other children. For children born with hearing loss or those suffering from progressive hearing loss, time is of the essence.

“The sooner they can install the implants, the higher the chance they can learn and thus have equal opportunity as other children. Due to the urgency of these cases, we must set up the foundation as soon as possible,” Mawan told The Borneo Post at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) after visiting Abang Romzie yesterday.

There is a time window for the implants to work effectively. The earlier these children get the implants, the higher chance for them to hear environment sounds and learn speech. The best time is before the children are one to two years old.

The next golden time window is before the children are four years old as their brain can still adapt to the implants. After that, the effectiveness of the implants diminishes and studies have shown there is a reduced chance for the children to speak properly despite improved hearing through cochlear implants.

In the case of Abang Romzie, the Association for Children with Special Needs Sibu had sponsored the cochlear implant while Mawan who is also Saratok MP sponsored the passage and accommodation which might be a big amount due to regular trips for speech therapy for Abang Romzie and even training for his mother Rafeah Argat, 45, on how to interact with her son.

“For the foundation to take off, government sponsorship alone will not be enough. Corporate and private contribution will be needed for the foundation to work. Government can take the lead but finally, we will need the whole society – the NGOs, corporate and individual effort to make it work.

“The implants are costly with one costing RM70,000. The patients and their families also need money for passage and accommodation while seeking treatment. With the foundation set up, all donations can go to it and from it, money can be channelled out to purchase the implants and to pay for other expenses.”

As the Association for Children with Special Needs Sibu could only sponsor one implant for Abang Romzie, Mawan who is also Pakan assemblyman promised to raise another RM70,000 for the other cochlear implant for the boy.

In response, amid expressing her gratitude for Mawan and all parties involved for their concern, Rafeah from Kampung Melayu of Roban said it was due to the lack of financial means that the family had delayed seeking treatment for Abang Romzie who started to suffer from progressive hearing loss since the age of five.

“My husband has no permanent job. He only works odd jobs in our village. Abang Romzie could hear and talk when he was born. At five years old, however, his speech started to get slur and his hearing gradual diminished. By then, he had already learnt to talk and read. Even until now, he can still read clearly though he cannot hear anymore.”

On why it took the family six years to seek help for Abang Romzie, Rafeah explained that even though the family knew something was wrong with him, to travel from Roban to Sarikei and later to seek treatment in Sibu would be truly a financial burden which the family could not afford.

Meanwhile, Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) specialist Dr Tang Ing Ping who had surgically installed the cochlear implant on Abang Romzie on Monday said the surgery was successful.

“Since Abang Romzie was able to hear and talk when he was five years old, he is expected to be able to do so again six months after installing the cochlear implant,” said Dr Tang.

Dr Tang, who is also a medical lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and serves as otologist and skull base surgeon at ENT Department, SGH said Abang Romzie was the third case referred to him by the Association for Children with Special Needs Sibu. The previous two cases were three-year-old Eunice Renalto and Renee Ngien who were both suffering from bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss.

Dr Tang however had performed more than 20 implant surgeries since 2013 for other children whose parents could afford to pay for the implants their children needed.

Quoting global statistics, he said out of 1,000 new born babies, one or two were born with hearing problems such as hearing loss.

“There are still six more cases – four cases in Kuching, one each in Sibu and Miri – awaiting funds for the installation of cochlear implants. Based on the fact that one cochlear implant costs RM70,000, it means we need a total of RM420,000 for the six children waiting for the implants. It is thus my hope to see that the foundation is set up to cater for the needs of low-income children with hearing disability,” said Dr Tang.

The needs of low-income children suffering from hearing disability reached The Borneo Post last year. The English daily has since tried to create awareness among the public. To date, a total of RM209,000 has been raised for children with hearing disability with two successful surgeries performed on two children earlier.

Apart from Mawan, other contributors include Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Public Health Assistant Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, Public Utilities Assistant Minister Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi, Community Services Assistant Minister Datuk Peter Nansian, Rural Development Assistant Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi and Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Naroden Majais and KTS Group.