A medical worker prepares an artificial limb at the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, in Gaza City, on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Dozens of amputees in Gaza have fitted with artifical limbs, which help them regain hope and lead a normal life.
by Sanaa Kamal
GAZA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Ibrahim Haboob, a doctor from Gaza who lost his left hand in an accident 21 years ago, has finally fitted with a bionic hand.
"I am so happy that I was finally able to use my hand, open it, close it, and hold all kinds of things without feeling embarrassed," Haboob told Xinhua during his hospital visit for prosthetic rehabilitation.
"It is not easy for anyone to accept his disability, especially if that person deals with people on a daily basis the way I do," said the physician in dermatology, also a father of four.
"I felt that something was missing, and there were pity looks from around, so I fitted with a cosmetic prosthetic hand," he recalled.
A medical worker prepares an artificial limb at the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, in Gaza City, on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Haboob is among the 40 recipients of upper-limb prostheses from the Qatar-sponsored Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza, which was established in late 2019.
"For weeks, patients were trained on how to use their new bionic hands," said Ahmed al-Absi, head of the hospital's artificial limbs department.
The prosthesis was custom-built to fit the residual limb and was connected with the user's brain through sensors that detect muscles' electrical signals and translate those signals into movement, according to the doctor.
At the clinic's reception, some patients pick up a plastic disposable cup with their bionic hands and take water from a dispenser without squeezing the flimsy cup out of shape.
A Palestinian amputee seen at the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, in Gaza City, on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
"I use it for everything … eating, drinking, and many other daily tasks," said Fatima al-Nimr, another bionic hand recipient who lost her left hand to a traffic accident eight years ago.
"I had been thrown into many embarrassing situations, especially when I need to use both hands," recalled the 31-year-old woman from Gaza.
"We are working to provide an integrated treatment circuit for people who need prosthetic limbs, which is divided into three stages: psychological and physical rehabilitation of the patient, the production of the limb, and its installment," al-Absi explained.
A medical worker prepares an artificial limb at the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, in Gaza City, on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
In Gaza, there are about 49,000 persons with disabilities, or 2.4 percent of the total population, according to official statistics.
The hospital, which is considered the only one in Gaza specializing in electric upper limb production and fitting, hopes to exempt more of the local disabled population from traveling abroad for treatments, according to al-Absi. ■