Ahram Online, Excerpt (Link: Egypt's prosthetics sector set to grow)
Sarah Elhosary , Monday 12 Dec 2022
As the prosthetics industry continues to grow in Egypt, what are the needs of some of its users.
Egypt s prosthetics sector set to grow
The government has recently shown an interest in the prosthetics industry in Egypt.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and other officials earlier this year, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi directed that an integrated system of high-level medical services for people with physical disabilities based on solid scientific evidence should be established.
The step aims to establish a comprehensive system for the production of prosthetic limbs in Egypt through a Different Capabilities Fund established for people with disabilities. In collaboration with the relevant state agencies, foreign experts in the field will transfer know-how and help build national capacities in order to produce high-level prosthetics and devices from the highest-quality raw materials.
According to a survey conducted in 2017 by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) to determine the level of disability in Egypt, 7.6 per cent of people aged five and up face difficulties and challenges with movement to varying degrees. With Egypt also experiencing an annual increase in amputations, the need for a national industry that caters to the needs and living conditions of people without limbs has proved crucial.
Nonetheless, the country still imports most advanced prosthetics, whether electronic ones linked to brain and nerve signals or mechanical ones that rely on muscle movements. This motivated Nermine Sobhi, Ahmed Magdi, and Mohamed Al-Aydi, all engineering students at the time, to work on developing prosthetic limbs that use cutting-edge technology.
“I’ve wanted to create a technologically advanced prosthetic limb since my first year as a mechanical engineering student,” Sobhi told Al-Ahram Weekly. “Our lives revolve around technology, and when we reach the category that needs it the most, we ignore it. So, I wanted to design something that would help to improve the lives of the limbless.
“First, we wanted to design a prosthetic limb that worked with motors without sensors. Then we discovered that such a thing is already out there, but that it is not suitable for children because of the weight of the motors that move the joints and fingers. It also does not work with people who suffer from nerve atrophy in the amputated limb.
“As time passed, we raised the ceiling of our dreams to provide a different design. We designed a prosthetic limb that consists of headphones worn to receive brain signals and send them to a prosthetic limb that moves with air pressure. This design enables amputees to use technologically advanced limbs without requiring surgery to install sensors to monitor brain signals. It allows a person to move a fingertip simply by thinking of it, thanks to special algorithms that use brain signals to communicate with the limb.
“It took a year to implement the design on top of the preceding five years to finalise it before the team could develop the idea and manufacture the technology. Our invention was rewarded as one of the top 10 projects in Dell’s annual competition for the best graduation projects in the Middle East and Africa. The design also finished second in the research competition at Abu Dhabi University,” Sobhi said.
Besides the engineers’ ongoing innovations, the production of prosthetic limbs has also piqued the interest of numerous manufacturers and institutions. Some of these are non-profit, and others are owned by people who have lost limbs and wish to make up with their own productions what existing prosthetics are missing.
Engineer Sherif Shahine said that “I have been working in communications and electronics engineering for about 13 years now, but I wanted to focus on improving prosthetics because I use one above the knee because of an accident I had after birth. Since it was too difficult to get information back then, I tried to promote social awareness and support people who had lost limbs by taking on an educational role.
“A lot of people are unaware that selecting an appropriate prosthetic is a process that involves several criteria and is related to the details of the amputee’s life. Thus, we ask many questions to determine the right prosthetic. Is the street around the person’s house in good condition? Do they live on a higher floor? Is their apartment’s floor slippery? What do they do for a living? Are they suffering from a joint problem? The list goes on and on.
“When choosing an appropriate artificial limb, it is important to take into consideration the fact that dialysis patients have fluid stored in their bodies, which increases their weight by about two to 3 kg. They need a practical and flexible design for a limb that can bear weight gain and work well when the weight decreases.”
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