Pakistani startup Bioniks has delivered 3D-printed prosthetic arms to two young girls from Gaza who lost their arms during Israeli airstrikes. This marks the company’s first international humanitarian mission.
The girl, an 8-year-old Sidra Al Burdini, returned from the clinic with her prosthetic arms and jumped on a cycle in a Jordanian refugee camp for the first time since a missile strike in Gaza took her arm a year ago.
Sidra was injured while sheltering at Nusirat School, one of several Gaza schools converted into makeshift refuges from Israeli airstrikes. Her mother, Sabine Al Burdini, said Gaza’s collapsed health services and the family’s inability to leave at the time made it impossible to save her hand. Another girl, 3-year-old Habibat Allah, was severely injured in a separate attack in 2023.
Their new prosthetic arms were created in Karachi using 3D modeling technology and delivered to them at a refugee camp in Jordan by Bionics CEO Anas Niaz. These limbs were designed remotely through a smartphone app, which allows the company to model and customize prosthetics without the need for in-person measurements. Sidra’s prosthetic was funded by Mufas Clinic in Amman, while donations from Pakistan paid for Habebat’s.
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“I’m most excited to finally hug my father with both arms,” said Sidra after receiving her prosthetic arm.
Children and women have been severely affected by the ongoing war in Gaza following the 7th October attack. Many children have lost their lives. Many are left orphaned. Several others are injured or have lost key body organs in the Israeli airstrikes on the refugee camps and civilian areas.
CEO Bioniks Anas Nair said the social enterprise startup had fitted more than a thousand custom-designed arms inside Pakistan since 2021, funded through a mix of patients’ payments, corporate sponsorship, and donations. But this was its first time providing prosthetics to those impacted by conflict.