Up to 24 amputee victims of the Ukraine conflict will be provided with prosthetics at St Luke’s Hospital over the coming 12 months as part of “Operation Renew Prosthetics”.

It is estimated that two patients will be receiving care in Malta every month, with each amputee spending around four weeks of rehabilitation in Malta. The first two patients are expected to arrive in Malta in January.

The “operation” is being carried out by prosthetics provider MCOP International (MCOPi) and Steward Health Care Malta (SHCM), with the support of the Ministry for Health.

An estimated 3,000 Ukrainians have lost a limb in the current conflict, primarily due to bomb blasts and other explosions.

In a statement, Steward Malta said that its care model for such patients "is unique in its ability to treat the more severely injured patients, including those with high-level loss, multiple limb amputations and bomb-blast injuries and burns that require sophisticated treatment and prosthesis."

US charity Revived Soldiers Ukraine as well as the Kyiv-based charity Future For Ukraine are both contributing to funding for the programme. 

MCOPi will be responsible for the provision of the clinical service with a certified prosthetist and delivery of the component parts for prosthetic devices. It will also coordinate care planning and patient treatments with the funding charities and provide high-level specialised training to Maltese therapists working at the Amputee Rehabilitation Unit at St Luke’s Hospital, who will be involved in the project.

Steward Health Care Malta will support the project ensuring it will not in any way delay care, increase waiting times or negatively impact the provision of prosthetics to Maltese amputees or other patients making use of Steward’s Orthotics and Prosthetics Unit and related rehabilitation services. Additional support for the programme includes staffing and logistical support.

On its part, the ministry will support the project through facilitation of visas and travel documentation for Ukrainian nationals, as well as allowing the provision of prosthetic devices in Malta and physical therapy for Ukrainian amputees being treated under the programme.