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World Hearing Day: Make hearing aids affordable, available for aged, experts urge FG
Medical experts have urged the Federal Government to make hearing aids affordable and available for the aged population in Nigeria.
They made the appeal on Friday in Abuja while commemorating the World Hearing Day, which is held annually on March 3.
At a sensitisation campaign to create awareness on hearing issues, Dr Ogugua Osiogbu, Head of Geriatrics Unit, National Hospital, Abuja, said that making hearing aids available and affordable for the elderly was very important to enable them continually engage with society.
“With increasing age there’s a big risk for hearing impairment, but I must also say that the very commonest thing that will actually cause hearing impairment in older adults is wax impaction.
“It comes with a very simple treatment, just putting a dissolvent and the wax dissolves.
“The other major cause of hearing impairment in them is what we describe as sensory neural hearing loss and for that they often require hearing aids and these are often very expensive for them to get.
“So our campaign to government and charitable organisations is to make these hearing aids available and affordable for older adults.”
According to Osiogbu, if the hearing impairments of older adults are not taken care of properly, all the information about custom and tradition they have to pass on to the younger generation will not be passed on.
She, however, advised that as people get older, they should avoid things that bring about hearing impairment.
The Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr Abba Gbadamasi, said that there was special attention on the aged because the body of the aged was not as fresh as those who were young.
“Naturally their body organs are tired and the risks are there that is why we look at that population and make sure that we risk access them and care for them and try to tell them how to avoid those challenges.”
Dr Undie NseObong, the Head, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department, said that the day was being commemorated to prevent and help people to be aware of so many things that might cause hearing problems.
According to her, if even a pregnant woman takes some drugs, it might actually cause that baby in the womb to become deaf.
“We just want to ensure that people do not cause hearing problems for themselves.
“For instance, it is very trendy right now to see people use their phones to listen to very loud music.
“There is something called noise induced hearing loss and it is as a result of excessive exposure to very loud sounds like the soldiers that are in the shooting ranges so all those things cause problems with hearing.
“We also do not want people to be using ear drops at random, people just walk into a pharmacy and buy an ear drop but some of those ear drops can actually cause hearing loss because people don’t know, they just use anything they like and it is very wrong.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the world hearing day, with the theme “Ear and hearing care for all”, is celebrated to highlight the importance of integrating ear and hearing care within primary care as an essential component of universal health coverage.
The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .
Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.
“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.
“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.
“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.
“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.
He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.
“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.
NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.
Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.
The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.
On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.
The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.
Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.
Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.
His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.
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