One of our consultant surgeons has received thanks all the way from Sri Lanka for his commitment to donating hearing aids to patients overseas.
Mr Arun Iyer (pictured left), consultant ear, nose & throat (ENT) surgeon at University Hospital Monklands (UHM), has spent a decade salvaging hearing aids that are out of guarantee.
Arun, who’s the clinical lead in ENT at UHM, has a special interest in ear surgery and was acutely aware of the chance to extend the lifespan of hearing aids by gifting them to health services in other countries.
He said: “There are a lot of opportunities to recycle equipment in the healthcare sector. Many of the hearing aids I’ve collected have been donated to countries such as The Gambia in Africa.
“For the last two years we’ve been donating the devices to Sri Lanka, an island country in South Asia. One of the key reasons for sending them there is that there are very dedicated audiology services in Sri Lanka, who can use them to the full.
“The staff in NHS Lanarkshire’s audiology services have also been instrumental in this great achievement.”
Another five kilogrammes of hearing aids, amounting to more than 1000 devices, were recently donated. Most of them are still working and NHS Lanarkshire has also gifted the software necessary to programme the hearing equipment.
The hearing aids were handed to Dr Mahesh Jayalath (pictured right), an NHS Lanarkshire trainee from Sri Lanka, so he could personally deliver them to colleagues back home.
Arun was delighted when he received a letter of appreciation from the president of the Sri Lankan College of ENT Surgeons, paying tribute to him and his colleagues for sending the hearing aids and some disposable flexible endoscopes that were also donated.
Arun added: “I’m very passionate about reducing wastage by recycling and adopting greener methods of working for a more sustainable future of healthcare worldwide.”
