People having swallowing disorders not getting any attention in Pakistan, workshop told

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Ziauddin College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences (ZCSLHS) has organised a five-day hands-on training workshop for speech language therapists in Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation for Swallow (FEES) from September 30 to October 4.The workshop is being led by a team of USA wallowing Services, including renowned expert trainers in the field of speech language and swallowing disorders. The event aims to spread awareness about FEES and providing knowledge about advanced technologies in the field of medicines.During the training session, elaborating about clinical services using the FEES procedures, Dr Matthew G Ward, MS, CCC-SLP, SA Swallowing Services, PLLC, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, said that (FEES) was an instrumental assessment and gold standard of assessment for swallow disorders or dysphagia, by which the speech language therapist can view the laryngeal vestibule directly to ascertain any impairment in the laryngeal phase of swallow, whilst having the patient eat and drink different consistencies of food as the procedure is being performed.“By replacing heavy machinery with a portable system, we have introduced a new treatment criteria and it is the start of change in the field of medicine. It will be more convenient for doctors to assess their patients and to find out swallowing disorders,” said Prof Dr Michelle L Skelley, MEd, CCC-SLP, SA Swallowing Services, PLLC, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.“Those who do not have access to quality treatment deserve to be helped. People in Pakistan are already getting good training sessions, but this training session is something very special, highly technical, skilled which is not offered outside university and it brings really special care to the people of Pakistan,” she added.Speaking of the number of people suffering from swallowing difficulty in rural areas, Prof Dr John R Ashford, PhD, CCC-SLP, SA Swallowing Services, PLLC, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, said: “In rural areas some people don’t know about speech problems and swallowing disorders. So if the main dilemma is hidden by the patient himself, definitely it would be more complicated for the therapist too. So educating people about swallowing disorders is very important.“If people in rural areas do not have access to good training and well- trained instructors, they may not be able to spend quality life. If they can’t swallow very well, they will lose weight, they will get sick, they won’t be able to speak well. Basically, they are missing out what others can do in their daily life and that’s the whole idea of organising this workshop to help people through therapy.”“People having swallowing disorders do not get any attention in Pakistan. Patients do not even have any idea that they are suffering with this swallowing disorders. We speech and language therapists provide our services to patients. We do treat them, assess them and recommend them to get checked themselves through proper test. We are giving trainings about (FEES). We have participants from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Dubai.“We need to introduce speech language therapy more and more in our country. We have only private sector working for speech and language course. We need thousands of trainers for this eating disorder. We have a lot of patients and it is impossible to cope up with all at the same time,” said Amina Siddiqui, principle of the ZCSLHS.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2n3PrS5
The News International - Karachi