Two Iraqi doctors and two technicians from the Basra Prosthetic and Rehabilitation Center in Iraq take part in a three-week orthotic and prosthetic training seminar at the St. Petersburg College Health Education Center. From left: translator Muhammad Yahia; technician Muwafak Ali; Dr. Kamal Yousuf; Dr. Muslim Yousef; and technician Shakir Khudhair Atea. Photograph courtesy of SPC.
A group of Iraqi doctors and technicians are at St. Petersburg College (SPC), Florida, through November 19, to take part in advanced orthotic and prosthetic education. The Iraqi group comprises two doctors and two “bench men”-a term the Iraqis prefer for what Americans call “technicians.” They will learn new technologies that will improve the quality of care provided to their patients, according to an SPC press release.
There are about 50,000 amputees in Iraq, many of whom are women and children. According to SPC, healthcare is barely accessible and Iraqi prosthetic technology is perhaps equivalent to American technology of 20 years ago. Used prosthetics and orthotics are the norm.
The Iraqi group is sponsored by Bringing Assistance and Support to Recovering Amputees (BASRA) Prosthetics for Life Project, an offshoot of an earlier Rotary International (Rotary) effort that gathered used prosthetic devices to ship to an Iraqi clinic for rework and reuse. The effort was so successful that the U.S. State Department asked Rotary to expand it to include training for Iraqi doctors. Rotary then approached SPC.
SPC’s Continuing Education (CE) Health Program then began working on a three-week training program for the Iraqi clinicians. They will study upper- and lower-limb prosthetics, ankle and foot prosthetics, as well as orthotic structures for congenital birth defects. Besides the time at SPC, the Iraqis are expected to meet with area surgeons and physicians.
The training is a collaborative effort between the SPC College of Orthotics & Prosthetics; SPC CE Health; the CE Health Advisory Committee; the Florida Association of Orthotics and Prosthetics (FAOP); Trulife, Poulsbo, Washington; Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Austin, Texas; and others.
