In Gaza, in collaboration with Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah at the American University of Beirut, the device is largely being trialled with gunshot wounds. This trial is also assessing the ability of the external fixator to be cleaned, sterilised and reused.
Professor Abu-Sittah said: “In previous wars hospitals in Gaza had run out of external fixators, which jeopardised patient care. Developing the capacity to manufacture fixators locally means that this will not happen again.”
Dr Saeidi (right) training Dr Sadiq Abdelall from the Islamic University of Gaza
A second trial will soon start with the devices fully manufactured in Gaza, in collaboration with the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). In preparation, Dr Saeidi trained Dr Sadiq Abdelall from IUG on manufacturing the external fixator using the toolkit at Imperial.