Nearly 1,000 newborns are deafened each year because of drugs misuse, said Lao Cifu, dean of Guangdong province’s healing center for the disabled, on Sunday.
According to the center, more than 20,000 children below seven years old in the province became deaf after mistaking drugs.
And about 26 percent deaf kids that take the healing program in the center restore their hearing, Lao said. The center hopes to promote the healing rate to 70 percent in five years.
The Ministry of Health began to reinforce the management of some 100 drugs that are likely to cause deafness in 1999. But some people unfortunately took the controlled drugs with little knowledge of their side-effects.
To control the number of deaf children, the Beijing United University has launched a program specialized in training teachers and developing the skills for healing the deaf kids. It enrolls 100 students each year from across the country.
This year, four students from Guangdong Province will take the program’s entry examination, according to the China News.
(eastday.com 03/15/2001)
