(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA
Palestine-Gaza: With words mixed with joy and happiness, Mohammed Suleiman Abu Madi, a resident of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip, spoke about his experience in using a smart electronic prosthesis that brought him back to life, gave him hope and helped him control the grip of objects, even the smallest ones, returned to his normal life and integrate with people without shame, after he had been covering his amputated arm for many years.
Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Hospital in the Gaza Strip, funded by the Qatar Fund for Development, has raised hope among the people of the Gaza Strip whose limbs were amputated during the Israeli wars and aggressions, after the prosthetics department manufactured smart electronic limbs and supplied them within the framework of the first phase of twenty-one amputees in the Gaza Strip, while during the second phase, expected next September, 40 other smart prostheses will be installed for urgent cases and productive groups within the Palestinian society.
Since its operation in April 2019, Hamad Hospital in Gaza has provided its services to more than 14 thousand patients and people with disabilities through its three main departments: Prosthetics department, Hearing and Balance Department and Medical Rehabilitation Department, while the Prosthetics Department at the hospital installed 263 lower limbs, 65 upper limbs, 428 limbs devices and 162 chiropractic devices until last May.
The Medical Rehabilitation Department received more than 8 thousand beneficiaries in the in-patients departments, day-care and outpatient treatment and provided its services through various and comprehensive rehabilitation units for rehabilitation medicine, physical and occupational therapy, speech and swallowing, while the Hearing and Balance department provided its comprehensive services to more than 6 thousand beneficiaries.
The idea of a smart limb is based on the use of electronic electrodes placed directly on the amputated part and taking the command through the brain and sensory nerves, and then turning this command through the electronic hand and microprocesses technology into a movement such as opening and closing the hand, which helps the patient to control the grip of objects naturally.
Speaking to the Qatar news agency (QNA), Palestinian citizen Mohammed Suleiman Abu Madi says that he was finally able to use his right hand after many years of suffering from a motor disability due to the amputation of his hand.
Abu Madi, who lost his hand at the age of five, adds that the loss of his hand negatively affected his psyche and made him feel that something was missing, especially when he was a child, as he used to cover his hand with a sock so as not to reveal the amputated part in front of people around him.
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'But today, after I installed a smart prosthesis, I feel happy, my life has returned to normal, and here I am drinking with my hand, going to the market and carrying shopping items with my hand, even a small rose I can hold in my hand,'he continued.
Abu Madi and twenty other Palestinian amputees were able to install an electronic prosthetic hand that they can use and move through the brain control that sends motor signals to each of the muscles and nerves connected to that prosthesis, and what distinguishes smart limbs is being functional and cosmetic at the same time, according to Dr. Ahmed Al-Absi, head of the Prosthetics department at HH Sheikh Hamad Hospital.
Dr. Al-Absi tells QNA that the prostheses rely on the sensitive electrodes inside the electronic hand, where it takes the signal from the brain and converts it into movement, so the patient can open and close his hand, in addition to handling all the tools he wants.
Al-Absi pointed out that the Prosthetics Department is working to provide an integrated treatment circle for people who need prostheses, which is divided into three stages, including psychological and physical rehabilitation, and then producing and installing the limb, and then training the patient to use it, confirming that all these teams dealt with the cases for which an electronic limb was installed and worked to help all patients in order to accept the idea of an electronic prosthesis.
'At the beginning, there was a difficulty in accepting the smart prosthesis and fears of how to deal with it, but today we can say that we have 21 success stories,' he said.
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