KLANG: The government wants to go the extra mile to identify the hearing impaired by detecting the disability as early as possible.

       Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said one of the measures taken was identifying hearing impairment among newborns.

       “In line with the Disabled People’s Act, the Health Ministry has taken steps to identify hearing problems from an early age through the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS).

       “Through this screening programme, it was found that permanent hearing disability was four cases for every 1,000 babies screened,” said Khairy in his speech at the launch of the national level of the World Hearing Day 2022 at Serdang Hospital.

       There were currently 44 public hospitals nationwide that carried out the UNHS programme.

       According to Khairy, only 62% of newborn babies have undergone screening for hearing problems under this programme to date.

       He said the numbers must improve to meet the 95% and above target set by the International Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.

       It was crucial to detect hearing loss among babies and children as it is a hidden disability, and he said failure to detect it early would adversely impact their future.

       “Because of this, I hope we can expand this programme, and I want the UNHS for babies born in Malaysia to be made a national health agenda, in line with the practice in developed nations.”

       He said the main challenges faced in carrying out the screening were acquiring more up-to-date equipment, having sufficient experts such as audiologists and support groups, and coordination and collaboration among the ministry, state, and hospitals.

       Given the government’s target and challenges to increase screening among newborns, Khairy said a special committee must oversee the current National Ear and Hearing Care (NEHC) programme under the medical development unit to oversee the strategic planning and coordination of the UNHS.

       This was to ensure that early intervention could be carried out to deal with newborns with hearing problems.

       Khairy also said there were 40,743 registered hearing-impaired adults and children in Malaysia as of Dec 31, 2021.

       However, he added that the numbers were lower than in previous surveys.

       Given this, he urged hearing-impaired to register and receive the available aid.