Madar (Nouakchott) - Twelve children from low-income families received cochlear implants in Nouakchott this week, ENT specialist Ahmed Ould Khairy said, adding that similar operations are being prepared for 24 more children, according to the Sahara Medias agency on Saturday, October 17, 2026.
He said the initiative began two years ago, when the Ministry of Social Action, Childhood and Family asked him to screen cases in schools for the deaf. He examined about 400 children and identified 36 who need cochlear implants but whose families cannot afford treatment and travel abroad.
The 12 operations were carried out with a contribution from Qatar Charity and were successful, with the children regaining their hearing without complications, according to him.
Talks with a foreign partner to operate on the remaining 24 children are at an advanced stage, he said, and another partner will provide free monthly tuning and programming of the implants, speech rehabilitation for the children and training abroad for Mauritanian doctors. The first tuning session is scheduled for December 4.
Ould Khairy urged the government to equip an operating theatre at Nouakchott's Friendship Hospital and to set up a national hearing programme for children needing implants and elderly people with hearing loss, saying it would widen access to treatment, ease the financial burden on families and build local expertise.
