"I am unhappy that I have ear discharge and ear pain, and it is difficult to communicate with other people,” says Sovannay, a 34-year-old wife and mother who works as a farmer in Cambodia.
Sovannay came to our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC), seeking treatment for chronic otitis media, an infection of the middle ear that causes inflammation of the tympanic membrane (eardrum).
Sovannay has lived with this condition for 30 years, as she was always unable to afford treatment.
“Sovannay began having recurrent discharge and hearing loss from both ears when she was four years old,” CSC tells us. “This condition has caused her to have a perforated tympanic membrane on each side.” The discharge that Sovannay is experiencing is fluid that drains from her ears through the perforated eardrums.
For $598, Sovannay will undergo a myringoplasty on each ear to repair the tears in her eardrums. Funding also pays for up to two days of hospital care, medicine, and three follow-up appointments in the first four weeks after each surgery. “After a myringoplasty on each side,” explains CSC, “Sovannay's ear discharge will stop, and she will have improved hearing.”