Launched on Thursday in Rabat by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Asmaa, the third edition reaffirms the spirit of South-South cooperation embodied by this initiative, which aims to restore hearing to 100 children from 17 African and Middle Eastern nations, including Morocco, through cochlear implant operations.
Specialized medical staff at the University Hospitals of Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech and Fez, and at the Mohammed V Military Training Hospital in Rabat, performed cochlear implant operations on children from Morocco, as well as other countries, notably Palestine, in the hope of restoring hearing and living a normal life.
+Humanitarian Program Founded on a Spirit of South-South Solidarity+
Douaa Al Kharouf, a Palestinian from the city of Nablus who is accompanying her child Karim, a beneficiary of this program, expressed her deep gratitude to HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa and to the medical team of the Mohammed V Military Training Hospital in Rabat.
“I came to Morocco for treatment of the acute hearing loss my son has suffered since birth. The operation was a success thanks to the efforts of all those involved, who gave us help and assistance,” she said.
In a similar statement, Hanine, who came from Ramallah accompanied by her son, Abdelmajid, said that he needed to undergo this costly and extremely complicated operation as a matter of urgency, stressing that her only wish was to see her cherub recover his hearing so that he could lead a normal life like his fellow human beings.
For her part, Elisabeth, who comes from the US state of Kentucky with her adopted granddaughter “Winter” from Kenya, expressed her immense joy at the idea of seeing her granddaughter, in the future, playing and communicating with other children, as well as with her educators and classmates, adding that the “United We Hear Each Other Better” program offers a glimmer of hope for Winter to discover the world around her.
For his part, Professor and Colonel-Major Fouad Benariba, Head of the Cephalic Extremity Unit at the Mohammed V Military Hospital in Rabat, said that on the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, the FAR Health Service has joined the “United, We Hear Each Other Better” program, which provides care for children suffering from severe hearing loss until they can benefit from the implantation of a cochlear implant.
He stressed that following on from the experience gained in 11 countries in the West African region, the surgical days organized this year at the Mohammed V Military Training Hospital, as well as at the University Hospitals of Rabat, Casablanca, Fez and Marrakech, as part of the program overseen by the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, benefited children from countries in East Africa and the Middle East, notably Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
According to Professor Benariba, cochlear implant transplant operations carried out at the hospital have benefited 16 children, including 7 Kenyans, 4 Palestinians, 3 Lebanese, one Syrian and one Ivorian.
He added that, for the first time in Morocco, a child under the age of one has benefited from a cochlear implant operation, whereas all internationally approved guidelines on the subject indicate that this operation can be carried out from the age of one to five. He pointed out that the operation on a Palestinian child “was somewhat delicate, as he suffered from a malformation of the cochlea, but we made sure of the success of the operation after carrying out the necessary examinations and X-rays.”
For Professor Benariba, this noble initiative is capable of completely lifting deaf children out of the world of silence, enabling them to develop their speech skills and integrate into the school environment, thus putting an end to this sensory handicap which constitutes a real burden for families, in particular, and society in general.
+Special Focus on Training & Transfer of Expertise+
In addition to performing cochlear implant surgeries, particular attention has been given to the aspect of training and the transfer of expertise, through the organization of training sessions for specialized ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) surgeons and speech therapists from several brotherly and friendly countries.
According to Abdelaziz Raji, head of the ENT department at the Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech, cochlear implant surgeries are conducted in parallel with the organization of training sessions for numerous specialized doctors and speech therapists, particularly from African countries.
He stressed that a specific training program is dedicated to speech therapists, noting that “our goal is not limited to performing surgeries for children, but also to training doctors and speech therapists to ensure proper care and follow-up for these children in their home countries.”
For his part, Professor Brahim Lekehal, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat, explained that these trainings are unprecedented, as they include a practical session focused for the first time in Morocco on the dissection of a real human temporal bone.
The training session organized at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat is part of a series of cochlear implant training sessions initiated by the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, he said, noting that this represents a unique opportunity for ENT surgeons and speech therapists from East and West Africa, as well as from Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, to receive high-level training in this field.
This training is a remarkable illustration of Morocco’s contribution to the development of the healthcare sector in Southern countries, in line with the enlightened vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to strengthen South-South solidarity and cooperation.
For his part, Keita Abdoulaye, head of the ENT department at Donka University Hospital in Conakry (Guinea), emphasized the great importance of these training sessions, as they enable the transfer of expertise from Moroccan specialists in cochlear implantation to their African counterparts.
They also contribute to “the training of surgeons, speech therapists, and paramedical staff responsible for parental support,” he underlined, adding that the children who will undergo surgery on Moroccan soil with the support of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation will later be monitored by medical teams in their respective countries.
Year after year, the achievements made under the “United, We Hear Each Other Better” program have expanded the base of beneficiary children in Morocco and in several brotherly and friendly countries, with the ultimate goal of alleviating the suffering of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and giving them hope of regaining their hearing for a better life.
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