Lagos – A surgical assistant and an audiologist, Mr Audu Modu, on Monday decried the dearth of enough audiologists to take care of the several people suffering from hearing impairment in the country.
Modu, a staffer with the Bingham University in Jos, Plateau, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that there were only four audiologists; an aspect of the ear, nose and throat (ENT) field in the country.
“Having one audiologist to take care of no fewer than 50 million Nigerians in a country with a population close to 200 million is not an acceptable ratio and not the best international practice.
“The non-availability of adequate experts in the field has had a negative impact on its technical know-how,’’ he said.
NAN reports that an audiologist is a health-care professional that specialises in identifying, diagnosing, treating and monitoring disorders of the auditory and vestibular system portions of the ear.
They are trained to diagnose, manage and treat hearing, tinnitus, or balance problems.
Modu who said that he only knew himself and two other audiologists in the country, wondered why people were not showing interests in the field.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
He said that he was fortunate to know about the field out of curiosity during his training as a surgical assistant in bone-bridge surgery by MED-EL, based in the United States.
Modu said that the training from MED-EL had exposed him to many areas he never had knowledge of in speech therapy despite his fore-knowledge in the field.
“The training was an eye opener, I have had this training in other countries but their module was so fragmented, but this one has been designed to meet my needs.
“It is a good beginning of a bright future for audiology in Nigeria because the training has given me a good and vast understanding of audiology ,’’ he said.
Modu said that Nigeria with many people suffering from the various forms of hearing impairment should have as many audiologists as possible to take care of their needs.
“We can look at it from these dimensions, first we have children that are born with one hearing deformity or other and they are on the increase by the reason of inter-marriage.
“Second is that we have about millions of deaf people now and most of them were acquired not hereditary, meaning something happened to them after birth.
“Thirdly, deafness does not select its victims; it can affect any class of people.
“It is something that happens to everybody, so the next option is how to find solutions to this deficiency.
“The population keeps growing,’’ he said.
Modu said that he would pass the training he acquired to younger ones so that the country could boost of more audiologists.
“We want to train other people to accommodate the demands of the society,’’ he said. (NAN)
