Palestinian prosthetics centre, providing limbs for those injured by Israel

Prosthetic technicians make limbs for Gazans who have lost theirs while taking part in the Great March of Return

by Mohammed Asad

Prosthetic technicians make limbs for Gazans who have lost theirs while taking part in the Great March of Return [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Palestinian prosthetic technicians have been working hard to make limbs for Gazans who have lost theirs while taking part in the Great March of Return.

The expertise they have amassed over the years, as a result of Israel’s repeated attacks on the enclave, has left them probably more efficient than their counterparts abroad.

Some 160 of those wounded during the protests have lost limbs, statistics from the Ministry of Health have revealed. This was a result of the occupation’s targeting of demonstrators with live ammunition and explosives, fragments of which entered their bodies, tearing through their joints and limbs.

READ: Israel closes Gaza border blocking aid transfers

Gaza’s Artificial Limbs and Polio Centre (ALPC) in Gaza City was established in 1974 and operates with the technical support of the International Red Cross. Its Director Lotfi Mousa said that the Gaza Strip has developed an advanced centre which is improving day after day.

It deals with upper and lower limbs, he continued, and provides follow on care, while the technicians need to assess the amputee, taking in to account where the amputation is located and the patient’s fitness levels and weight over a number of months. This provides for a rehabilitation programme to be setup for the patient once the prosthetic limb has been made.

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