In Myanmar, healthcare professionals involved in providing prosthetic limbs for landmine victims warned there was already a backlog of people requiring care, because shortages of resources including specialist health workers persist.
The recent jump in patients, plus the challenges involved in accessing the services that do exist due to checkpoints and fighting, will only worsen the situation.
“Even to begin with, [there were] not much services available,” one person said, on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “To produce around 10-15 legs, you need two prosthetic and orthotic technologist technicians at a workshop, and a physiotherapist to provide exercises and gait training in a month. So you can imagine how long it will take.”
The individual added that, while some prosthetics are provided for free, the cost of travel and accommodation to reach services from remote communities can be prohibitive for many.
And so in many ways, Nyien was one of the lucky ones. After his legs were amputated – his right above the knee, his left below – his parents were able to get him to a facility providing prosthetics.
There, as the four-year-old victim of war learned to walk all over again, he chose a bright blue pattern adorned in cartoon animals to cover his first set of prosthetic legs. They won’t be his last.
“As a young child who would be growing fast, changes to his prosthesis would be unavoidable,” his medical notes said. But for now, the little boy in blue is making a strong recovery.
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