Pakistani boy can hear again, thanks to Gurgaon hospital

GURGAON - A day after four-year-old Mohammad Ryyan from Pakistan got back his hearing following surgery at a hospital here, doctors started audio-visual therapy for the boy Tuesday to help him understand different sounds.

“Rehabilitation is a part of the treatment in which we make the child hear different types of sounds and understand them,” Amitabh Malik, senior ENT consultant at Paras Hospital where Ryyan underwent surgery, said Tuesday.

The operation, called cochlear implantation, was conducted on the boy hailing from Karachi Monday. Ryyan lost his hearing ability when he was just two months old. And he was admitted to Paras Hospital after several unsuccessful attempts to cure him by different doctors in both India and Pakistan.

“This kind of surgery is very rare. It includes three basic steps. First we perform the cochlear implant and when the patient recovers from the surgery, we switch the device on. After this we provide them therapy to convert sign language into real language. This therapy is provided because the patient has never heard any voice before and this would be the first time he would be hearing anything,” said Malik.

“It was a challenging surgery and required high-tech surgical skills. In Ryyan’s case it was more difficult because he could hear sounds till he was two months old. After that his hearing abilities deteriorated and he became deaf,” the doctor added.

According to hospital authorities, the boy can leave for his country a week hence.

Ryyan’s father Asim Riyaz is a happy man now that his little boy can hear everything without any difficulty.

“We are very happy to see our child hearing things with no difficulty. We are grateful that we came to India where finally this kind of surgery could be performed. Initially we were apprehensive about coming to India, but after several unsuccessful attempts, we zeroed in on Paras Hospital. Now I am taking a good message of friendship and peace for the people of Pakistan,” Riyaz said.