Three-year-old Pedro sat with his eyes wide open next to Ana Dias, a student of the Integrated Master's in Medicine at the University of Algarve, while she held a device to measure his hearing to his ear. «See that little light? And all these colors?”, asked the student, to reassure the kid, pointing to the graphics that appeared on the computer screen.
Pedro was one of about 290 children, between 1 and 8 years old, from Colégio O Bambino, in Lagos, and Amigos dos Pequeninos, in Silves, to participate this month in the screening integrated in the Study of the Prevalence of Serous Otitis Media in the pediatric population in Portugal.
Serous otitis is a disease that affects many children across the country, causing not only the natural malaise, the loss of work days for parents, medical expenses, but, above all, the chance that children will have hearing problems or even deafness. Hence, studying its prevalence, that is, what percentage of children are affected, is important to understand this issue.
This is the first major study in the area developed in Portugal. It is coordinated from the Algarve region, in a partnership between the University of Algarve and the Hospital of São Gonçalo de Lagos (4H Group), but it also covers other regions, such as Coimbra and Porto.
The study is being conducted under the supervision of Professor Dr. Armin B. Moniri (Guest Professor at the University of Algarve and Assistant Clinical Director of the Hospital de São Gonçalo, in Lagos) and João Lino (specialist in Otorhinolaryngology and Cervico-Facial Surgery at the Instituto CUF Porto and hospital assistant at Centro Hospitalar do Porto), being operated in the field by Ana Dias and Helder Lousada, both students of the Integrated Masters in Medicine at UAlg, together with HSGL staff. The exams were carried out in the van of the Mobile Health Unit of that private hospital, which traveled to the two schools.
Edite Palma, director of the Friends of the Little Ones in Silves, told the Sul Informação that “parents were very pleased with this screening”, all the more so because, at the end, “a report is given to the parents”. The school also plans "to hold a meeting with all the parents, at the end, to explain the results to them and to reassure them, even about the steps they can take if their children are diagnosed with a problem".
Edite Palma added that the school she runs, and which receives students from all social strata of Silves, has always had “a strategy that involves opening the doors to other institutions, as long as this is beneficial for our boys. Hence the importance of participating in this screening, which is free of charge».
«We are grateful for the invitation of the Hospital de São Gonçalo to participate in this study, as otherwise we would not be able to provide this service. Here we have the possibility of carrying out a first screening, so that the parents can obtain the information later and still go in time to correct and treat any problem that their children may have. Perhaps, we have parents here who, by themselves, would not have the possibility of doing this first screening. This is, without a doubt, an asset for us, for the parents and for the community», said the director of the Friends of the Little Ones.
Nuno Rebelo Alexandre, responsible for Communication at the Hospital de São Gonçalo, highlighted the interest the institution has in these services it provides to the community. The study, coordinated by Armin Moniri, allows putting to work «two important entities in the Algarve, which are the Hospital de São Gonçalo and the University».
On the other hand, he added, even for "students of the medical course who operationalize the screening, this is also very good, from an academic and personal point of view."
For the joy of the kids, in both schools, in addition to screening, Dr. Gonçalo was also present, the hospital's mascot, whom all the children wanted to greet. All? Well, not always. It's just that some of the little ones, especially the younger ones, fled at seven feet from the friendly Dr. Gonçalo and his enormous head… Nothing that had hindered the study, of course.
Nuno Alexandre, from the Hospital of São Gonçalo de Lagos, also revealed that, after audiology, that private health unit still intends to carry out free screenings in private and public schools, in the field of ophthalmology.
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