Ottobock Kenya marked International Prosthetics and Orthotics Day on 5 November by inviting a group of prosthetists and orthotists from across Kenya to spend a day at its patient care centre in Nairobi. The event followed this year’s global theme set by the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO): “People”.
Ottobock Kenya puts the clinicians first
Writing on LinkedIn, Kingsley Diores, Managing Director of Ottobock Kenya and Area Manager for East, West and Central Africa at Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA, said the day was a chance to recognise the people who help persons with limb loss, limb difference and other mobility challenges regain independence.
He was candid about the conditions in which the profession works in the region. Without formal reimbursement systems, and with limited access to infrastructure, tools and equipment, delivering quality prosthetic and orthotic services is “often an uphill battle”, he wrote. Despite this, the clinicians continue to serve their patients with commitment.
Accessibility, affordability and training on the agenda
The group spent the day exchanging experiences and discussing the realities of practice in Kenya. According to Diores, much of the time went on brainstorming practical ways to make prosthetic and orthotic services more accessible and affordable across the region.
The programme also included practical demonstrations of new technologies and a discussion on widening the training Ottobock offers in East Africa. Photographs from the day show Amparo‘s Majicast shape-capture system among the equipment on show, alongside test and definitive sockets. Majicast, made by Portugal-based Amparo Prosthetics, captures the residual limb under weight-bearing load in a hydrostatic pressure environment, so the recorded shape reflects the limb in standing. The company says this gives clinics a repeatable capture process and supports consistent socket fit, although these performance claims are the manufacturer’s own.
Diores closed with thanks to prosthetists and orthotists across East Africa. “Your work goes far beyond fitting a device,” he wrote. “You restore confidence, enable independence and open up opportunities for people to participate more fully in life.”
IMEA CPO Perspective
Kenya has one of East Africa’s more developed prosthetic and orthotic workforces, but the points raised at the Nairobi event apply across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Where patients pay out of pocket and clinics lack equipment, every step that saves materials, appointments or remakes matters.
For CPOs in the region, the practical opportunity lies in three areas:
- Workflow tools that reduce remakes. Weight-bearing capture systems such as Majicast aim to cut the number of check-socket iterations, which can lower cost per fitting for clinics without reimbursement.
- Structured training. Supplier-led courses help clinicians keep up with new components and techniques where formal continuing education is scarce.
- A stronger professional voice. Gatherings like this one give Kenyan CPOs a platform to make the case for reimbursement and public funding of prosthetic and orthotic services.
IMEA CPO will follow how these discussions translate into training and access initiatives in East Africa.
Suggested Hyperlinks
- Kingsley Diores on LinkedIn (source post)
- ISPO: 2026 International Prosthetics and Orthotics Day theme, “People”
- ISPO: First International P&O Day on 5 November
- Amparo Majicast product listing, OTWorld 2026
- Amparo Prosthetics
- Ottobock
- IMEA CPO: O&P Africa News