"Doctors in Gaza battling the odds after the enclave's medical infrastructure was obliterated by Israel's genocidal war on the besieged enclave have found an ingenious way of saving Palestinians from losing fractured limbs. With hospitals struggling to function under frequent electricity blackouts, the territory's resourceful medics are harnessing the power of the sun to power 3D printers creating medical devices for the kinds of complex fractures that have become commonplace under relentless Israeli bombing."
"medics were manufacturing so-called external fixators used to support shattered limbs from low-cost 3D-printed components made from recycled materials. The types of the fracture we receive, especially in this war, were so complicated, so complex that the external fixator is the most suitable [treatment], he explained, demonstrating how the devices are assembled at minimal cost using the 3D components, metal rods and nuts and bolts."
"Naim worked with medical solidarity organisation Glia to lead the innovation in the enclave, creating fixators that would ordinarily cost more than $500 apiece from an open-source design, with no limits on manufacture thanks to the use of solar energy. Al Jazeera met Zakaria, one of three patients whose limbs were spared amputation after being fitted with locally produced fixators. Displaced southwards from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza to Deir el-Balah, he was the first patient to receive treatment using the device."
Medical infrastructure in Gaza has been devastated and hospitals face frequent electricity blackouts. Clinicians use solar power to run 3D printers that produce low-cost external fixator components from recycled plastics. Surgeons assemble the devices with 3D-printed parts, metal rods, nuts and bolts to treat complex, blast-related fractures that have become common. The designs are open-source and production is unrestricted by power limitations thanks to solar energy, reducing device costs compared with commercial fixators. Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Fadel Naim worked with medical solidarity organisation Glia to develop the approach. Patients fitted with locally produced fixators have avoided amputation and regained mobility.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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