On January 9, 2018 we celebrate 22 years since the establishment of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, a leading Polish research institute with the category A + and a highly specialized hospital providing comprehensive care to people with hearing, voice, speech, balance and breathing impairment. There is no other center in Poland that would achieve such a high position in such a short time – not only in the country, but also in the world.
The establishment act of the Institute was signed by prof. Jacek Żochowski, Minister of Health, prof. Grzegorz Kołodko, Minister of Finance, and prof. Aleksandra Łuczak, Chairman of the Scientific Research Committee.
As Prof. Henryk Skarzynski points out, it was a very important document. – It gave us – and we were back then a group of a dozen or so friends connected by enthusiasm and dreams of creating a center for treating hearing disorders at the highest level – green light for action, for work, for development. And although it did not give anything more: financial, organizational or accommodation support, we were enthusiastic to keep working.
Currently, the Institute is a jewel in the crown of Polish medicine, and the achievements of prof. Henryk Skarzynski, initiator and founder of the institution, and his team have been recognized and rewarded from the beginning by representatives of the highest authorities in Poland. The International Center of Hearing and Speech, and later the World Hearing Center, have been visited many times by representatives of the government, parliament and foreign delegations. Also the First Ladies visited the Center in Kajetany. Everyone emphasized that it is an unique institution on a global scale, and the conditions it provides to patients should be a model for other hospitals. Special recognition among numerous guests was granted by the fact that the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing has built such a strong position in the country and abroad in such a short time.
This great success is the result of the work of prof. Henryk Skarzynski, who 26 years ago began preparations for the implementation of a cochlear implant program in Poland. He carried out many pioneering operations and even created in the scientific world so-called “Polish Otosurgery School” in the treatment of partial deafness. On his initiative, the World Hearing Center in Kajetany was opened, where currently over 6 thousand implant users are taken care of. The Institute has extensive experience in providing the medical services. For over 15 years, the Center has been operating from 15 thousand to over 21 thousand surgical procedures per year. Around 60 – 70 hearing improvement surgeries are performed daily in the clinic – the biggest number in the world in the field of otorhinolaryngology, audiology and phoniatrics.