Hong Kong’s Adventist Hospital (in Tsue Wan) increases the experience of expectant parents during the pregnancy by allowing them to touch their child as it is in the uterus.
Advantages vs Inconvenients?
The first advantage of this service is that it can be a true opportunity for partially sighted or blind parents to discover another side of pregnancy. Indeed, what they cannot perceive with regular scans, they can experience it by touching the 3D printed model of the unborn baby and it could help them to connect in another way with what is going on inside the mummy.
“We haven’t handled lots of visually impaired parents, but we hope to take care of the needs of everyone,” said Doretta Lo Hoi-yee, a senior nursing officer at the hospital’s outpatient department.
However, one inconvenient noticed is the harmful aspect of the use of 3D scanning for the development of the foetus. According to Tang Miu-chi, a mother of two, “all foetuses look similar when they are developing…The model doesn’t look pretty to me and looks a bit like a medical specimen.”
The service
The 3D printed model of an unborn baby requires the use of ultrasound scans which can thereafter be converted into 3D models. The foetal face can be obtained in a special crystalline material and it takes 3 to 5 days to get the final 3D printed model once the 3D scan is done.
Due to the cost- HK$6,000- (652.38 €), the service is not yet available everywhere.
For further information about 3D Printing, follow us on our social networks and subscribe to our newsletter!
//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});