KARACHI, Oct 28: Various hearing tests at the Audiology department of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital are not being conducted for more than four months due to faults in Pure Tone Audiometery Machine (PTAM) and Impedance Audiometery Machine (IAM) at the department.

The both machines were provided to the hospital in 1992, and a department of Audiology was established there. The machines were used to assess the hearing levels of the patients visiting the department, especially in diagnosis of diseases like senile deafness among the elderly people.

A hospital official told PPI on Thursday that at first some fault occurred in the IAM in 1993, and after that it stopped functioning.

In 2002, the IAM was sent for repair by the hospital administration, and the head phone of the machine, costing Rs0.1 million, was stolen and the machine was still out of order, he added.

He said the PTAM also developed some faults, and finally it stopped functioning owing to bad results of tests done by it.

"No money is spent on the improvement of the department for the last 20 years despite drawing attention of health officials to the problems," he told.

"There was no fee for the test except Rs5 as "Parchi Fee". It was the only facility in defunct district central and all major public and private hospitals used to refer patients to the ASH, including the Sindh Government Hospital, Liaquatabad, and the Qatar Hospital," he said.

Around 20 patients used to visit the department daily, and now they were not being entertained at the department and forced to avail the facility at private sector hospitals, he added.

The first Evoke Response Audiometery Machine in the country, which was installed some 15 years back at the department had also become a part of junk, the official said, adding that it was used to treat the children who could not speak or hear at the time of their birth. - PPI