Egypt’s Ministry of Health has launched a new initiative to check, diagnose and treat infants with possible hearing defects and impairments. The initiative known as the President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s Initiative was launched Sunday, September 1st by the Minister of Health, Hala Zayed. According to the minister, this program is part of the “100 million healthy lives” initiatives.

The minister highlighted that the ministry will examine the three- to seven-day-old newborns in 1,300 health units nationwide to discover if they are infected with hearing impairment or not.

The ministry has so far trained 3,500 nurses across the country on how to conduct a survey, use an audiometry device, and read and record the results.

Zayed assured that the units will transfer individuals suspected to be infected to hospitals for treatment free of charge.

She noted that the ministry distributed audiometry devices to 1,300 units nationwide.

Egypt launched the “100 million healthy lives” screening campaign in 2018, targeting people aged 19 to 59 for scanning through PCR tests. Those testing positive for the disease are expected to undergo further check-ups and will be provided free medication.

Culled from archyworldys.com