- Title: Gaza burn victims get 3D-printer face masks made close to home
- Date: 11th February 2021
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PATIENT, AHMED AL-NATOUR, SAYING: "This mask is easy to use. I wear it, and it has bands, I tie them from behind and it is good for me. I used to not be able open my eyes but when I wear it I can." AL-NATOUR HOLDING MASK
- Embargoed: 25th February 2021 10:08
- Keywords: Burns COVID-19 Coronavirus Face masks Gaza Gaza City Palestinians
- Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Living/Lifestyle,Middle East,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA007DZ79F8B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
Ahmed Al-Natour was working at his Gaza market shoe stall when a fire started in a nearby bakery and swept through a crowd of shoppers last March.
Twenty-five people were killed and Natour, 34, suffered severe burns to his face and other parts of his body. Back home after months in hospital, he is venturing out wearing a therapeutic mask now being made locally for the first time.
Using a 3D scanner in its clinic and a 3D printer owned by a Gaza business, Medecins Sans Frontieres-France provides compressive masks for Gaza facial burn victims to help them heal and prepare some for reconstructive surgery.
The transparent masks are made of solid plastic materials imported from France that help soften tissues and prevent complications such as scarring.
"I feel comfortable when I wear it, and it relaxes the face. It is easy to use, and I go shopping while wearing it," Natour said, as he wore the mask fastened with elastic straps.
In the past, 3D masks were available for burn patients in Gaza only when they traveled to Jordan for reconstructive surgery.
Coronavirus travel restrictions have made such journeys difficult, with only two Gaza patients able to make the trip in 2020 compared with 25 in 2019.
Abed El-Hamid Qaradaya, MSF-France's physiotherapy activity manager in Gaza, said at one of the organization's clinics that the masks had made a major difference for some patients.
"We have made face masks for 23 patients since the middle of 2020, and they helped to transform their lives," he said.
(Production: Fadi Shana, Arafat Barbakh, Suheir Sheikh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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