MedAidFx®
External fixation is a vital orthopaedic technique used to stabilise broken bones from outside the body. This offers rapid stabilisation and is often limb saving. The MedAidFx® is an LMIC tailored solution at an affordable price to allow this treatment to be more widely available.
Designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom
The Story Behind MedAidFx®
Before founding Medical Aid International, Tim Beacon spent many years working within the British National Health Service (NHS) as an Operating Department Practitioner, often in orthopaedic trauma departments. He then built on this clinical experience with 12 years in the orthopaedic trauma medical devices industry, progressing to the level of National Manager.
Through this career, Tim developed a deep understanding of fracture and limb trauma management. However, during his travels across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), he was struck by how severely under-resourced this area of care was; wards were full of treatable patients, had the resources been available.
While he recognised that a few well-chosen instrument sets could meet the needs of most surgical specialties in these settings, he also knew this was not true for orthopaedic trauma – a field that demands specialist equipment and skills to deliver effective care.
Tim Beacon and Steve Mannion, co-designers of the MedAidFx®, working in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake.
"Thank you for your incredible invention that saves people's limbs and gives them the opportunity for a better life!"
– Roman Kuziv
Commander, MFSG East, at Armed Forces of Ukraine
The Challenge and The Solution
Following on from this, traditional Western techniques such as intramedullary nailing and plating, while they do have a role in some (very few) specialist centres in Africa, face many challenges. These include the availability of trained surgeons, access to complete equipment and stock, and, very importantly, properly equipped operating rooms with high-quality, large sterilisers.
In such environments, external fixation becomes the preferred – and often only feasible – solution, and is a technique that a general surgeon can comfortably perform.
External fixation is an orthopaedic technique used to stabilise broken bones from outside the body. Pins are inserted through the skin into the bone on either side of a fracture and connected to external bars. This rigid frame maintains bone alignment while allowing access for wound care and monitoring.
It is especially valuable for open fractures, complex injuries, and austere or conflict settings, where it remains a lifesaving and limb-saving tool for surgeons.
Key Advantages of External Fixation
Rapid stabilisation: Can be applied quickly, even in frontline or field hospitals.
Limb saving: Offers the best chance to preserve arms and legs in severe injuries.
Lower infection risk: Keeps hardware outside the wound – vital for contaminated injuries.
Staged treatment: Acts as both an emergency measure and a bridge to definitive surgery.
Easy wound access: Allows repeated cleaning and dressing without compromising stability.
Pain reduction: Stabilisation significantly reduces pain and the need for medication.
Cost-effective and reusable (excluding pins): An efficient, sustainable option in low-resource settings.
The Problem of Cost: MedAidFx® Solves It
High-quality, single-use, European-made external fixators typically cost around £7,000 per unit, depending on the construct type. This is prohibitively expensive in austere environments or areas facing high numbers of complex injuries – such as Ukraine, where hospitals often rely on inconsistent donations or low-cost, low-quality imports.
Recognising this urgent need, Medical Aid International, in partnership with Grid4Good, Mr Steve Mannion (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and disaster relief specialist), and UK manufacturer ATC Ltd, developed the MedAidFx®.
The MedAidFx® is a robust, UK-made external fixator that delivers the same clinical effectiveness as leading Western systems – but at a fraction of the cost.
Already proven in Ukraine, Malawi, and Zambia, MedAidFx® represents a practical, scalable, and sustainable solution for global orthopaedic trauma care. It can also be packaged alongside other areas of our portfolio, such as Arbutus power tools, operating tables, operating rooms, and more.
The MedAidFx® Leaflet
Want to know more?
Contact our CEO, Tim Beacon: tim@medaid.co.uk
Other Solutions
Operating Tables
Working on a daily basis in low resource environments we recognised the urgent need for a versatile, rugged manual operating table that delivers in all area of surgical care.
Arbutus Drills
Arbutus Drills are a superb solution to the need for an effective, reliable and low-cost power tool system for use in orthopaedic surgery in austere environments, and are ideal for use with MedAidFx® and other orthopaedic systems.
