Demand for artificial limbs remains high

Farmer Hamza Abdullah was driving home in his pickup with three of his children sitting on a load of hay in the back, when they were struck by a missile. "Just as we were getting to my home, I saw the American troops, but I did not take much notice because there was no fighting," he told IRIN. "Suddenly I heard a missile coming straight at us." His children took the force of the blast. They were rushed to hospital with serious shrapnel wounds and each had one of their legs amputated. Now they are patients at Baghdad's Institute of Medical Technology - the only place in the city where they can be fitted with artificial limbs. Abdullah's daughter, five-year-old Elaf, sits in the waiting room, the stump of her left leg encased in a bandage. Her 13-year-old sister Sabrina and 10-year-old brother Abbas have already been measured for their new limbs. The institute has about 60 amputees on its waiting list - nearly all of them injured in the recent fighting. The waiting room at the institute is full of men and women of all ages, some on crutches, others leaning on friends and relatives, and a few in wheelchairs. There are frequent power cuts and they wait in the dim light and stifling heat. "They know about us, because one of our doctors goes round the hospitals telling amputees they can come here to be fitted with an artificial leg," said Dr Alaa Hadi, head of the institute's rehabilitation department. "We are concentrating on victims from this most recent war." The department was set up to train orthopedic technicians. It continues to train students, but opens twice a week to the public. The two other centres in Baghdad providing artificial limbs, run by the military and the Health Ministry, were looted and remain closed. The institute was also looted after the war and all the machinery and tools for making prostheses were taken. The NGO Handicap International has provided some 80 artificial legs, which consist of a metal pole with a foot and a casing that can be adjusted to different stump sizes. They can last several months before being worn out. "We need the patients to be up and walking quite quickly otherwise there could be problems. For example, the knee will get stuck in a bent position," Chris Lang, rehabilitation project manager for Handicap International, told IRIN. Saad Hamid Musah, and his son Saif Saad Hamid, both furniture makers, have come together to be measured for artificial limbs. They were seriously injured when a bomb hit their home just north of Baghdad, killing Saif's uncle, and two cousins. Saif hopes he can get his job at the furniture factory back once he has his prosthesis fitted. But there is no chance of that for his 46-year-old father, who has had both legs amputated above the knee and is in a wheelchair. Handicap International hopes to provide a total of 300 emergency prostheses in the near future, and is also bringing in experts to train staff. The institute is also asking the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide machinery to make longer lasting, individually tailored artificial limbs. The large amount of unexploded ordnance and landmines left after the fighting means there are new amputees all the time. Handicap International is also working to reduce the number of civilians being injured by educating the public, and has brought in a demining team. Most of the amputees at the institute have terrible stories to tell. They are often the lucky survivors of attacks in which other relatives were killed. Handicap International believes providing them with artificial limbs is a practical way of helping them. "It is important to get them up and walking as soon as possible - both to prevent disability, and also to help them psychologically," Lang said. "They have really suffered enough trauma."