SALALAH, MARCH 8 - With the setting up of Arab Centre for Artificial Limbs in Salalah there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the Yemeni war victims who have lost their legs or hands. The centre is equipped with improving the motor skills of the victims with artificial limbs and other equipment. It also has rehabilitation plan for the patients from Yemen, who otherwise had to travel either to India or Germany. The medical and surgical treatment needs of such patients would be met in Salalah and they would not only be saved from expensive treatment, but also would be able to get timely treatment.
An inaugural event for the centre was held under the auspices of Shaikh Muhanna bin Salim al Lamki, Deputy Governor of Dhofar. The event was attended by Hamoud bin Saeed al Mikhlafi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Centre for Industries, Dr Khalid bin Saleh, Yemeni Ambassador in the Sultanate, Thomas Friedrich Schneider, Ambassador of Germany in the Sultanate, and a number of officials and dignitaries in Dhofar Governorate. Al Mikhlafi hailed the setting up of the centre in Salalah as a milestone for the war victims and heaped praise on Oman for extending all possible support.
“You have been hope for all who lost their body parts in war and their families facing a new lifestyle challenge. We were moved by their suffering and felt like doing something for them. This is a small at-tempt to stand beside them and enable them to stand again,” he said. This centre is considered the first one of its kind for prostheses in the Middle East region, which provides motor rehabilitation services for the amputees in cooperation with the Ottobock company of Germany.
Al Mikhlafi said: “We were sending the amputees to India with the help of Omani authorities and some 150 were sent for treatment and rehabilitation. Most of them have regained their normal life. Our good experience reinforced the necessity of heading towards the most practical and most complete solutions, which came in the form of the Arab Centre for Prosthetics.” The centre, according to him, is well equipped to attend about 50 cases per month.
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