A postgraduate engineering student from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology becomes the first Ghanaian to manufacture a prosthetic foot from saw dust and other local materials.

Adofo Yaw Kwakye, who was the president at Ghana Engineering Students Association during his undergraduate study developed this local prosthetic with the purpose of helping amputees across the globe.

In his project presentation at the 2nd International Conference on Engineering, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship held on August 16 to 18, 2017 at KNUST, Adofo highlighted the need for engineers to provide cheaper options for limbless people who cannot afford the high cost of exotic prosthetics.

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“There is the need for engineers to produce prosthesis of adequate quality but less cost from local materials so that we can help amputees gain their psychological sense of wholeness,”  Adofo Yaw Kwakye said.

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Mr. Nyamekye said feedback from testing of the prosthetic on an amputee proved very positive.

He although lamented that the challenge he faces currently is the difficulty in accessing funds to embark on massive production to reach a wider population.

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He therefore called on the Ministry of Health, other government agencies and the public to support them expand the project.

Mr. Nyamekye was confident that if the needed support and acknowledgement is given to this innovation, it was going to put Ghana at the centre stage of the world.