Abu Dhabi – Gaza – Together – The past weeks have recorded an increase in the number of people who lost a limb in Gaza, after their number reached several thousand last January. More than 1,000 of them were children.
Despite this, a window of new hope has been opened for these people through prosthetic limbs, the design and production of which has achieved great progress on a large scale over the past few years, and which, if available, can restore part of the normal course of life for those who use them.
And making hope… a title for the activity of the prosthetics factory at the Zayed Higher Organization, in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, which employs the latest technologies, including computer-aided design, industrial robotics, 3D printing, and advanced rigid and flexible materials, such as carbon fibres, This is to design and produce prosthetic limbs that change the lives of many, enable them to regain control of their affairs and enhance their independence and ability to rely on themselves a
gain.
Factory at their sites
One of the most important features of the factory is that its work team reaches the injured where they are in the Emirates City for Humanitarian Services, which hosts them, instead of them having to go to it. This is confirmed by the head of the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit at the Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, Zayed Salem Al Kathiri, during his speech. About the mechanism of operation of the institution’s prosthetic limb factory.
Al Kathiri points out that the prosthetics factory team goes to the Emirates City for Humanitarian Services every day. Where there are many of Gaza’s wounded and cancer patients, whom the city is hosting with their companions after it received 17 relief planes that transported them from the Gaza Strip via Egypt to Abu Dhabi, after they were forced to leave the Gaza Strip due to their critical health conditions and the lack of many treatment services in light of the deterioration of the health and medical system. In the sector
.
1704 surgeries
In the Emirates Humanitarian City, whose staff from various specializations and medical expertise, as of last April 30, were able to perform 1,704 surgical operations for various cases; Many of them are critical. A specialized team from the prosthetics factory meets daily with a number of amputees from Gaza, to study the needs of each of them, with the aim of reviewing their cases to develop appropriate solutions.
Rose-aged children
The youngest of these is a child named Rakan, who is one year old. This Rakan plays with every member of the Emirates Humanitarian City team with spontaneous childish joy, and they exchange the same atmosphere with him to raise his morale. He does not realize that the doctors in Gaza had to amputate his leg to prevent the infection from spreading to the rest of his young body.
The mission of the limb factory team is to conduct examinations of Rakan’s remaining amputated limb, with all compassion and tenderness, to the point of kissing his hands, which do not
stop touching their faces during the examination, in all innocence.
As for Malik, a young man in middle school, his entire arm was amputated, and he cannot accept the matter easily. He retreats away alone, silent in the face of his situation, while his acceptance of his condition seems less than others, waiting for his prosthetic limb, which in the first stage requires braces. To control it.
The team reviews the detailed medical report prepared by the staff of the Emirates Humanitarian City in Abu Dhabi regarding Malik’s need for further rehabilitation and moral support to deal with his new situation, overcome the challenge that befell him, and get used to it.
3 satellites from Gaza
In the same scene comes Layan, Shahad, and Lama, who had earlier come from Gaza on board an Emirati plane that had transported wounded and sick people from the Gaza Strip. They all suffered from partial, limb, or total amputation in one or both legs.
The child, Shahad, looks forward with hope to the factory team who are visit
ing her to check on how she is adapting to the prosthetic limb. As for Lama, she wants to make sure that in the future she will be able to wear her shoes normally like other girls. And Lian, who suffered from amputation of both legs above the knee, hopes that she will be able to walk using the prosthetic feet. .
Double tragedy
Among all of these, the oldest among those whom the prosthetic limb factory team at the Zayed Higher Organization was able to help is an elderly man in his sixties, and some cases of people suffering from diseases such as cancer, which doubles their human tragedy.
Comprehensive evaluations
The team has so far completed comprehensive assessments and integrated procedures for installing prosthetic limbs, and has designed advanced wheelchairs that suit the needs of each case. Whether at the level of the lower or upper limbs, or at the level of the spinal cord and back. The team members return daily, after taking all the required data, to the factory at the Zayed Higher Organization, to
begin the process of manufacturing prosthetic limbs for each case according to its needs.
Advanced technology
In the factory, the team works on designing the replacement or prosthetic limb using three advanced programs that achieve the highest levels of accuracy, after which the data is sent to the production station. Where a giant artificial robotic arm sculpts the mold of the prosthetic limb in a thermally insulated room. Where specialists can monitor the process from the outside through sealed glass windows.
Zayed Al Kathiri says that there is priority for the guests of the President of the State, the wounded and sick Palestinian brothers coming from Gaza, so that the speed of completion of the prosthetic limb was doubled and delivered within just two weeks instead of a month, using computer-aided engineering design and 3D printing applications, and the team worked at full capacity.
Al Kathiri confirms that the comprehensive medical evaluation carried out by the Emirates Humanitarian City team facilita
tes the work of the prosthetics factory, as it provides them with full support. From physical and occupational therapy before, during and after the installation of the prosthesis.
He stresses that providing treatment to the country’s guests is on the same level as the therapeutic services provided to the country’s citizens, based on a fraternal and humanitarian duty to provide support to the brothers from Palestine in the best possible way.
Accuracy up to 2mm
In turn, prosthetic and orthopedic specialist, Daniel Martin, says that the process of sculpting the prosthetic limb mold can be accomplished by a robot with an accuracy of up to 2 millimeters.
Martin lists different types of limbs that use advanced, durable and lightweight materials. Including silicone, carbon fiber, and various polymers that give flexibility to some parts of the limb, in addition to spongy-touch components, which provide greater comfort and ease in wearing the limb.
Martin confirms that the factory designs a special mold for each
limb that is manufactured to suit the needs of each case, pointing out that the limbs manufactured for children are more flexible and ready for extension and expansion due to their rapid growth.
Martin says that 98% of the prosthetic limb parts used can be manufactured within the UAE, saving time and effort and making them available to users as quickly as possible.
3D printing
There are other cases that require the use of 3D printers available in the prosthetics factory at the Zayed Higher Organization in Abu Dhabi to print parts of the prosthetic limb and advanced splints, says Omar Mohammed Al Hosani, a vocational rehabilitation trainer at the organization, who supervises an integrated team of people of determination who work on printing Parts of prosthetic limbs and prosthetic splints using these advanced printing techniques.
Al Hosani explains the mechanism of activating the 3D printing system by using electrical stimulation of the data of the geometric shape of the prosthetic limb required for its fo
rmation, and then building it point by point from polyimide powder, which allows the formation of extremely precise products within a few hours, and then cooling them naturally or urgently according to the need and the size of each. A piece, as he described it.
Zayed Al Kathiri adds an important addition here by saying that the factory at the Zayed Higher Organization provides the opportunity for people of determination to employ their special abilities in such humanitarian activities by training them through the ‘Vocational Rehabilitation Program,’ which empowers them with skills important to them, starting with early intervention in the early years until the age of 15 years in schools for people of determination, or joining an academic qualification program designated for young people of determination for two or three years, through which they can be enabled to contribute to community and humanitarian activities that create a positive, sustainable impact on the lives of others.
Humanitarian partnership
A
l Hosani adds that Emirati people of determination, including Sultan, Rashid, and Noura, volunteer and contribute to various prosthetic limb manufacturing operations for children and the wounded coming from the Gaza Strip, and they participate in bringing joy to the souls of Gazans and enabling them to regain some of the normal life they had before they lost it. Their limbs.
Here Al Kathiri says that the prosthetic limbs factory allows people of determination to participate in efforts to provide these necessary limbs to the wounded and injured coming from Gaza to the Emirates Humanitarian City to facilitate their lives and restore hope for a better future.
Latest technology
In turn, the head of the Department of Sustainable Medical Equipment for People of Determination, Mohamed Shamo, says that the UAE’s initiative enables prosthetic limb users to rely more on themselves and achieve greater independence in their daily activities, pointing to the work to provide advice and advise on the latest technologies
that can be used in prosthetic limbs. This achieves better results, stressing that producing most of the parts required for prosthetic limbs within the country contributes to accelerating the time for beneficiaries to obtain limbs, reducing shipping and storage burdens, and providing more thanks to local production.
Shamo points out that the level of activity and high morale in the Emirates Humanitarian City is inspiring, pointing to the high determination, will and determination of most of those who are fitted with prosthetic limbs, which helps them quickly adapt to them, with the continuous support of the medical team and physical and occupational therapists.
A place for entertainment
Zayed Al Kathiri says that treatment has a continuation, indicating that in addition to the comprehensive medical, technical and rehabilitation protocol, entertainment has a place in the daily life of the guests of the Emirates Humanitarian City, who are provided with artificial limbs, in programs that enhance their restora
tion of self-confidence and hope for a better future.
Al-Kathiri points out that this includes social activities, field visits throughout the country, a group of purposeful theatrical works, and a special sports day, explaining that such activities organized by the city enhance adaptation, adjustment and integration for this group, and provide support through group activities that strengthen the bonds of its members as one family. And one community, and at the same time it enhances the direct support provided by the companions of the wounded and sick who are hosted by the Humanitarian City from the brothers coming from Gaza.
Also in the field hospital
It is worth noting that the UAE had also established a center for manufacturing and installing artificial limbs in the Emirati field hospital inside the Gaza Strip, to meet the urgent needs of those affected by the war, in light of the collapse of the health system in the Strip.
In addition to the medical services related to disinfecting and preparing the am
putated parts for installation of the prosthetic limb, the prosthetic limb manufacturing and installation center at the Emirati Field Hospital in the Gaza Strip provides rehabilitation and training services on dealing with the prosthetic limb and its daily use, in addition to physical therapy services for the center’s visitors.
Source: Maan News Agency