Humanitarian initiative provides affordable prosthetics through 3D printing technology
Muhammad
Nasser Kennan shows the prosthetic hand supplied to him by Mand.ro, a
Korean startup company with a humanitarian initiative (Photos by Mina
Mohit)
AMMAN — Muhammad Nasser Kennan wanted to be a football
coach after finishing school, but in the summer of his 10th grade, his
dreams were put on hold.
Kennan was under the legal working age
of 18 when he was hired as a temporary worker in a plastic factory in
Zarqa and, within his first week of employment, the factory had an
electric malfunction which led the machine he was assigned to clean to
switch on, leaving his left arm stuck between rotating blades, causing
amputation.
“I was rushed to the local government hospital and
because I didn’t have any social security, my dad had to come and pay
everything. The factory didn’t claim any responsibility for my injury,”
said 21-year-old Kennan.
Kennan is one of the thousands living
in Jordan with an amputated limb, some as a result of regional wars,
others due to work or road accidents.
Three years after the
accident, he was able to receive a customised 3D-printed prosthetic arm
completely free of charge through the Korean startup Mand.ro in
collaboration with the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
and SwissLimbs, a Lugano-based non-profit organisation specialised in
physical rehabilitation.
“Muhammad was the first on our waiting
list in Al Bashir Hospital and the first to receive this new technology.
He has come a long way since: until recently, he wasn’t able to talk
easily and suffered from major depression. We are happy to see him
improve both physically and emotionally,” said Suzan Ibrawesh, the
regional representative of SwissLimbs.
Since February 2017,
Mand.ro has donated 40 prosthetic limbs to Syrian refugees and
Jordanians with below-elbow amputation, according to the startup CEO
Sangho Yi.
“We not only create the prosthetic arm specifically
designed for the patient, but we also provide training on how to use it
and conduct regular maintenance and software check-ups,” she told The
Jordan Times at a press conference.
The startup representative
said they aim to facilitate physical mobility for amputees without the
huge costs usually associated with it.
“Prosthetic hands like
the Bebionic, the iLimb, or the Michelangelo [internationally renowned
models of prosthetic limbs] are selling between $25,000 and $100,00 and
we are able to design and 3D print something similar costing us only
$455,” Yi explained.
The CEO said that the 3D scanning and
printing technology is not only preferred for its affordability but also
because it is fast.
“Only using a laptop and a 3D-printer, we can have a fully functioning prosthetic hand in two to three hours,” said Yi.
Once
patients are fitted with their new limbs, KOICA and SwissLimbs help in
assisting unemployed patients back into the workforce. “99 per cent of
our beneficiaries don’t have work,” Ibrawesh said.
Despite
having a prosthetic and fully functional hand for the past six months,
Kennan has not been successful in securing employment appropriate to his
condition.
“I don’t want to work in a factory anymore, I hope
no one sends their underage child to work in a factory. I wanted to work
in a company, doing administrative tasks or anything, but nobody hired
me. I hope things change once I get my Tawjihi,” said Kennan, who was
forced to put his education on hold after his accident four years ago.
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