8,000 to benefit from mobile hearing clinic launch
The Mobile Hearing Clinic by the National University Hospital's Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. Photo: Olivia Quay via Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE — Over the next two years, 8,000 residents aged above 40 will have easier access to a hearing diagnostic test with the official launch of Singapore's first Mobile Hearing Clinic (MHC) on Saturday (Feb 27).
It is also estimated that more than 400 residents will be fitted with a hearing aid to enhance their quality of life. The MHC will be going to the heartlands at Community Centres or Residents' Committee Centres.
The mobile clinic is an initiative by the National University Hospital's Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (ENT) to make hearing services more accessible, as well as to raise public awareness about how hearing loss can impact daily life adversely.
There are currently two roving MHCs, and each is equipped with two audio testing rooms with a comprehensive suite of hearing test equipment and hearing aid fitting systems.
The MHC, funded by the Ministry of Health's Health Services Development Programme for S$4.6 million, has been on the road for two months since Dec 14. About 500 residents from Bukit Panjang, Tampines West, Yuhua and Nee Soon Central have since been screened, while 50 of them were fitted with a hearing aid with 30 more are expected to be fitted in the coming month.
Programme Director of the MHC and an audiologist at the NUH ENT Clinic, Chong Sheue Lih, said: "The Mobile Hearing Clinic project aims to increase the accessibility of hearing health and raise hearing awareness by bringing the services closer to the community.
"Hearing aid is a medical device that needs to be prescribed and fitted by trained personnel to ensure optimum outcome. Getting one off-the-shelf without proper review and advice can cause more hearing problems for the individual."
Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu, who was the Guest-of Honour, added that the concept of the NUH Mobile Hearing Clinic ties in with the new model of mobile and community healthcare.
"It is the first mobile hearing clinic brought into the heartlands," she said. "Hearing loss is very common, and some of us may also experience age-related hearing loss. We should take a proactive approach in improving our hearing health by going for early screening and treatment. Hearing loss can be overcome with hearing aid and rehabilitation.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA
