“Prominent Israeli surgeons have performed an extra-ordinary surgery on a young boy at CWM Hospital in Suva.
The surgery is the first of its kind performed in Fiji and the Pacific region. Main surgeon Dr Michael Gordon says they were able to give the 14-year old boy his hearing senses after undergoing a hearing implant operation.
“Basically we implant a magnet into the skull behind the ear and this is done surgically which takes about an hour and the magnet is screwed in the side the skull and the wound is closed once the wound is healed the magnet will hold a special bone conducting hearing aid on the back of the ear.”
Dr Gordon believes Fiji lacks the resource and facilities to conduct this type of special surgeries but he was pleased with the level of skills displayed by Fijian doctors and nurses who assisted the team.
“There is not enough doctors to treat the problem here, not enough facilities. They don’t have enough operating time to deal with them, they need more equipment and I think in every area a fair bit of work is needed to be done to improve the well-being of ear, nose and throat patients here.”
The team of Ear, Nose and Throat specialists which came at the request of the Health Ministry performed about twenty surgeries.”