THE establishment of a national capability for the manufacturing of prosthetic devices and artificial limbs signals the peaking of the state’s efforts to ensure the social, cultural and economic empowerment of citizens with disabilities and provide them with the means of facilitating their integration into the society. And it is within this framework that the ongoing undertaking to set up an integrated industrial complex for the manufacturing of such devices and aids comes as a formidable step to localise this industry and to secure the availability of such devices to citizens in and upon need, in effect complementing the state’s efforts to assist people of determination to lead a dignified life in the society. Reflecting this state’s keenness to foster this genuine attitude was the meeting that President Sisi called the other day with the prime minister, Cabinet ministers and senior officials concerned, specifically to follow up on the status of action to set up the national industrial complex for the manufacturing of prosthetic devices and artificial limbs.
In the foremost of the conclusions of that meeting as outlined by Presidency spokesman Bassam Radi was the emphasis that President Sisi placed on the need to localise this industry, provide its human resources with the highest training support and benefit from distinguished foreign expertise in this field. These three factors would establish the projected complex’s capacity to serve as a reliable and useful asset in the furtherance of the state’s policy of promoting the social, cultural and economic integration of PwD into the entire societal structure, effectively reasserting the distinguishing character of the plan for comprehensive and sustainable development as covering all segments of the society and all areas of the country.
The presidential directive for officials in charge of implementing the project to benefit from marked foreign expertise in this field would enhance the complex’s capacity to manufacture up-to-date and high quality devices. Literature on this industry indicates that it is one area of social and economic activity where science, medicine, physics and many more disciplines can collaboratively upgrade production and secure its sustainable capacity to manufacture devices that can make users increasingly safe and comfortable. For it is with the help of scientific research and modern technology that hundreds of prosthetic devices are now being manufactured in various parts of the world, making it possible for disabled people to become considerably abled by means of a wide variety of artificial limbs, orthotic parts, hearing and visibility alleviations and other rehabilitation aids. To establish an integrated scheme for the manufacturing of such devices is in fact to boost the potential of the health and social solidarity sectors to offer improved, sustainable and high-quality support to PwD, reflecting the state’s acknowledgement of the societal value of the differently abled and disability challenging citizens.
