Occupied Palestinian Territories: MSF Trains Palestinian Doctors on Hand Therapy and Burn Treatment

On January 11, 2012, in partnership with the Gaza rehabilitation and physical therapy unit, MSF also trained physical therapists on burn treatment and rehabilitation.

Over a two-week period, French physical therapist and science writer Michel Boutan trained four Palestinian physical therapists at the MSF clinic in Gaza City. They were trained to perform manual screening of mobility problems, establish appropriate treatment protocols, manufacture orthoses (prostheses for the hand), and to properly use electrical stimulation in hand therapy.

The objective was to increase their knowledge and skill so that patients may benefit from the techniques and elective physical therapy treatment (splints, facial masks, and compression garments) and to alleviate the serious consequences—medical, social and psychological—that people with severe burns may suffer.

More about the training of local health care workers in occupied Palestinian Territories.

Photo: Palestinian Authority 2012 © Michel Boutan/MSF