LONDON: A Jordanian-led initiative to equip thousands of victims of the war in Gaza with prosthetic limbs has started, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
Two mobile clinics entered the war-ravaged territory on Monday with the aim of helping 14,000 amputees. The estimated cost of each fitting is around £1,000 ($1,321).
The program involves UK-based companies Koalaa and Amparo, both of which have developed easy-to-fit sockets for upper and lower limb prosthetics.
Using advanced British-designed technology, the doctors aim to fit a functioning prosthesis every hour.
Each fitting will be registered digitally, allowing for remote follow-up procedures with specialist doctors based in Amman or around the world.
“Medical estimates indicate that over 14,000 people have been injured and lost one or more limbs,” Jordanian Brig. Gen. Mustafa Al-Hiyari told Sky News.
“Our project is distinguished not only by the large number (of prosthetics provided) but also by its speed; as specialists will declare, a prosthetic limb would be installed in less than an hour.
“Those who cannot reach the hospital, the equipped vans will go to them,” the Jordanian Armed Forces member said.
Most of the amputees from the war cannot leave Gaza for treatment elsewhere, and the conflict has displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
The top UN humanitarian official for Gaza told the UN Security Council on Monday that more must be done to protect civilians.
“Time is slipping away as a man-made humanitarian crisis has turned Gaza into the abyss,” Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said.
Kaag said humanitarian operations are impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting, and operating conditions for aid workers. She cited Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and “poor logistical infrastructure.”