Karaganda doctors perform unique hearing restoration surgery
The Regional Multidisciplinary Children’s Clinical Hospital performed the Karaganda region’s first cochlear implantation surgery on a child with severe deafness. Until now, such procedures were carried out mainly in major clinics in Astana, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The unique operation was performed on a 13-year-old patient with profound hearing loss, involving leading specialists from Astana. Among them were Arman Abilev, chief pediatric otorhinolaryngologist of Astana’s public health department, and Almat Bekpan, head of the Head and Neck department at University Medical Center.
The first cochlear implantation in the region was successful.
The procedure involves inserting an electrode system into the cochlea, directly stimulating the auditory nerve and bypassing damaged parts of the hearing system. An external processor behind the ear captures sounds and converts them into electrical impulses.
Rehabilitation is crucial: it lasts from 10 days to a month initially, but speech and hearing development continue much longer. Regular device adjustments are required, involving ENT doctors, audiologists, and speech therapists.
After such operations, children can hear, communicate, attend regular schools, and live full lives.
The hospital plans to expand the program, with at least 10 more children scheduled for cochlear implantation in 2026.
This breakthrough follows another milestone in Kazakhstan’s medical field: the country’s first robot-assisted heart surgery, performed earlier at the Presidential Medical Center in Astana — also the first in Central Asia.
