KARACHI: Three-year-old Momina Amir’s father became emotional in August when his daughter, who was born without a right hand, asked her father if she could borrow his hand so that he could correct the Muslim ritual of prayer. could do with
After that moment, Amir Abbas said that he was more determined than ever to find a solution, which turned out to be a blue multigrip bionic branch adapted to the exact wishes of Momina, a huge fan of Princess Elsa in the Walt Disney animated film, ” Accumulated.”
“I had just finished praying that Momina came to me and said: ‘Baba, give me your hand so that I can pray like you,'” Abbas told Arab News. “It is difficult for me to express my feelings in words. I had never felt him or felt he was missing something. But it inspired me to think harder and find solutions. ,
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 30 million people worldwide require prostheses, but less than 20 percent have them and are expensive and bulky, with little or no limitation of movement. According to Karachi’s Aga Khan University Hospital, one in every 20 babies in Pakistan is born with some kind of hand deformity.
But with the help of Bionic, a Karachi-based startup that provides orthotics and prosthetics services, Abbas has been able to make his daughter’s dream come true.
Earlier this year, the firm achieved a world record when they fitted four-year-old Muhammad Sidick with a Multigrip Bionic Arm. The story was covered by Arab News, and Abbas said media coverage was instrumental in linking the family to Bionic.
Momina’s mother Saadia Amir said, “That story gave me hope and inspired me to meet Bionic.”
After receiving her new hand last week, Momina, at three years and four months old, is the youngest recipient of an advanced prosthesis.
Treatment options for babies born with deformities of the hand or hand include – depending on the nature and severity of the problem – limb manipulation and stretching, tendon transfer, adding a splint to stretch the finger to its original position, or muscle. , aims to repair contractions in the ligaments. and skin.
In some cases, skin grafts may be used to remove the deformity. Sometimes surgery is also done to correct this condition.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of expertise in Pakistan as well as the high cost of the procedures, not all children get the right treatment.
And even though Momina is among a handful of lucky kids, it wasn’t easy because of her age and congenital condition to design the limb she needed, as the design is equipped with sensors that allow users to move and move as they think about making prostheses. enables. movements.
Owais Hussain Qureshi, co-founder of Bionics, told Arab News, “It was far more difficult to integrate everything into his case because he never had a hand.” “He had not experienced in his mind the senses that allow us to use our right hand.”
For example, he said, when Momina was first asked to close the fingers of her right hand, she would move the entire prosthetic arm.
But the girl was intelligent and the team had no difficulty teaching her how to communicate and use the organ.
“He is very friendly and talkative,” said Qureshi, smiling. “She would walk around freely in our office, visit the research and development room, sit with our designers and talk to them: ‘I don’t like this or that part. Would you like a little shade of blue? Can lighten? What about adding diamonds or crystals to the hand?'”
“It wouldn’t be wrong to say,” said Qureshi, “that he has indeed got a customized hand. In fact, he almost made it himself!”
Momina’s mother said that her daughter decided she wanted a blue arm because of Princess Elsa in “Frozen”.
“The day she got her hand, we left our house late at night and she fell asleep in the car,” she said. “While I was removing her hand, she woke up and asked me not to. When she went into a deep sleep, I took her off and was surprised to see her restlessness in the morning. She looked impatiently for the hand but She was happy when I brought her back.
Momina’s mother said that her daughter was so deeply attached to her “magical” arm that she was upset when she was taken back to the firmament for minor changes and adjustments.
Her parents said that most people wanted their children to have a skin-colored prosthesis, but decided to give their daughter the arm she really wanted.
“She’s happy with the color,” said her mother. “Sometimes she even makes fun of our simple arms and says she has more beautiful arms! We want him to grow with it.”
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