Havana, Feb 26 (RHC)— Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal, highlighted on Wednesday Cuba’s achievements in the application of free cochlear implants, on the occasion of the celebration of the World Day dedicated to this technique.

The minister wrote on Twitter: “ The Cuban Cochlear Implant Program, which our country has been promoting since 2005, is one of the achievements of the National Health System, and a sign of Cuba's constant concern for its children, especially those with disabilities.”

February 25 is International Cochlear Implant Day, a technique that enables a profoundly deaf person to hear through electrical stimulation of the acoustic cells inside the inner ear.

It was precisely on February 25, 1957 that the first cochlear implant was performed by doctors André Djourno and Charles Eyriès, who made history by making a totally deaf person hear.

This date was celebrated for the first time in 2009 and since then, associations and society in general began to echo this technical advance in the field of hearing. It is now celebrated in more than 60 countries with activities and events of all kinds.