The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided $2.5 million to the American Esper Corporation to expand production capacity for bionic upper limb prostheses in Ukraine as part of the Elysium project.
According to the EBRD press release, the total cost of the project is $6.25 million.
The project is co-financed by a European venture capital fund specializing in medical technology and an American venture capital fund specializing in investments in Ukraine and Moldova.
Esper Corporation is a manufacturer of bionic upper limb prostheses with research and production facilities located in Ukraine.
The main owners of Esper are Ukrainian entrepreneurs.
Ukrainian enterprises are now producing two thousand lower limb prostheses and 200 upper limb prostheses in one month, according to Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.
“On average, according to the statistics collected, all enterprises produce more than 2,000 lower limb prostheses and about 200 upper limb prostheses per month,” Zholnovych said during a national telethon on Wednesday.
According to her, almost 80 enterprises are engaged in the production of prostheses in Ukraine, while at the beginning of the full-scale invasion there were about 40 of them. The head of the department also noted that not only the number of enterprises has increased, but also the production volumes of the previously operating ones.
“They are now working to the maximum. I think they will continue to expand. But I would not say that there are long waiting lists (for prostheses – IF-U),” the minister added.
Zholnovych also noted that over 20 thousand people, both civilians and military, have been prosthetized in Ukraine over the past two years.
As reported, in October, the website of the Ministry of Social Policy launched an information panel with a list of prosthetic companies and other manufacturers of rehabilitation aids.
