Hearing Awareness: "To help a person hear for the first time is a wonderful feeling"
Exclusive interview with Abdul Jaleel, Managing Director, Faith Medical
Abdul Jaleel is a man on a mission. Today, as the world commemorates the International Day of the Deaf, the managing director of Faith Medical, a UAE based firm that is the exclusive distributor in the country, as well as in Oman and India, for Puretone, a UK-based brand that manufactures premium hearing aid systems, outlines his plan to do his bit for the common good in an exclusive interview with GN Focus.
How did your association with Puretone come about?
I was a pharmacist by profession and during the course of my work here in the UAE, I chanced upon several patients and references who were finding it difficult to source reliable hearing aid equipment. This got me thinking and I did my research on various companies that manufactured both analogue and digital hearing aid, which is when I came across Puretone. I got in touch with the firm at their UK office and managed to convince them of the demand for premium hearing aid equipment, here in the UAE.
Puretone hearing devices are not available in the retail market as our firm, Faith Medical exclusively distributes their devices to government hospitals and organisations on a preapproved subsidised price.
So, while Puretone’s premium digital hearing devices could be priced on the higher side, we have managed to get these devices to select hospitals here in the UAE on a highly subsidised price. Faith Medical is now the sole distributor for Puretone here in the UAE as well as in Oman and in India.
Faith Medical is now in the final stages of finalising a deal with a government hospital to donate a set number of hearing aids for free so children who need hearing aid but whose parents cannot afford the treatment can choose to hear once again. The deal should be finalised this week.
Puretone also provides digital systems for smart homes that enable the hearing disabled to be aware of noises that indicate an emergency or that requires the immediate attention of a household member.
What is this initiative that you have planned?
The satisfaction that we at Faith Medical gain on seeing the smile and the sense of wonder that register on patients’ faces when they hear sound for the first time cannot really be expressed in words. It has always been my wish ever since I started the company more than four years ago, to be of some assistance to patients who suffer from hearing disabilities but cannot afford the treatment or pay for the devices.
In this regard, Faith Medical is now in the final stages of finalising a deal with a government hospital to donate a set number of hearing aids for free so children who need hearing aid but whose parents cannot afford the treatment can choose to hear once again. The deal should be finalised this week.