A few
years ago, I had an occasion to attend a meeting addressed by a
gentleman, who manufactured prosthetic limbs in Pune, my home town.
After demonstrating the working of his prosthetic limbs, he called
on stage two or three of his patients, who were fitted with
prosthetic limbs made by him. As they narrated their own experiences,
I had goosebumps all over my body, realising how helpless and down in
the dumps, these people must have felt once and the sheer ecstasy and
thrill that must have come over them after having been able to walk
again. I understood that day the joy of walking.
People
loose their limbs mostly due to accidents or sometimes because these
need to be amputated specially for diabetic patients. One of the
major cause of limb loss is war and soldiers suffer due to this to
the maximum extent. To help such soldiers, Indian army had set up The
Artificial Limb Centre in Pune in 1944 itself. Although ALC was
raised with the primary objective of meeting the prosthetic and
orthopedic requirements of disabled personnel of the armed forces,
from 1951 the facilities were gradually extended to civilians as
well. In 1958, a 70 bedded civilian wing was added to this Centre.
A 120 bedded ward was already authorized for Defence Services
personnel and ex-servicemen.
The
problems with prosthetic limbs produced till about 1970, were many.
These were at their best, poor substitutes, painful to use and very
expensive. The break through came in 1968 when a person;Ram Chander
Sharma, came up with his innovative and new design of a prosthetic
limb under the guidance of Dr. P.K. Sethi, who was then the head of
the Department of Orthopedics at Sawai ManSingh Medical College in
Jaipur, India. It is is a rubber-based prosthetic leg for people with
below-knee amputations. Since it was developed at Jaipur in Rajsthan
state of India, the name Jaipur stuck to it and is now commonly
called as Jaipur leg or foot.
This
prosthetic leg has proved to be inexpensive (costs only US$ 45),
water-resistant, and quick to fit and manufacture. It is made of
polyurethane, which at the time of its design was the new material
used in the production of the prostheses. It was found that this
material increased the durability and the convenience of use. The
Jaipur Foot is superior to its Solid Ankle Cushion Heel counterpart
in some ways. It offers much better range of movements. In medical
terms these are described as follows and I quote:
“ The
articulation at the 'ankle' allows not only inversion-eversion
movements but also dorsiflexion (essential for squatting, standing up
from prone position, etc.) and a shorter keel helps achieve this.
Also, the materials used at the foot-end are waterproof and
moderately mimic a real foot.”
Readers
might be surprised to note than more than a million Jaipur foot have
been supplied to sufferers all over the globe. According to the
manufacturers, these features help a physically-challenged person
assimilate more easily in a semi-urban or rural setup in the Indian
subcontinent and other developing countries. Perhaps the best living
advertisement and brand ambassador for Jaipur foot has been an
actress and a dancer; Sudha Chandran, who had lost a limb in 1982.
She was fitted with the Jaipur Foot and actually started dancing once
again. Her recovery was made the theme of a film in 1986 , “Naache
Mayuri”. Sudha Chandran actually had acted in this film.
In
October 2010, I had visited famous Angkor temples of Cambodia. There
is a museum known as “ Landmine Museum” situated on the road
towards the famous temple of “Bante Strei.” Cambodia's deadly
relationship with landmines had began in 1975 when Chinese backed
Khmer Rouge or the Communist party of Cambodia, captured power in
Phnom Penh under leadership of Pol Pot. During next four years, the
poor people of Combodia were subjected to leave their homes, work in
fields and were tortured at the slightest suspicion of being anti
communist. The war ended only when in 1978, Vietnamese forces again
entered Cambodia and defeated Khmer Rouge. During these four years of
war, landmines were laid all over Cambodia. Thousands of innocent
Cambodians have fallen as victims to these landmines since those
years and many have lost their limbs. There rehabilitation has been a
major challenge faced by the country. I saw a troupe of musicians
disabled by landmines performing near famous temple of Ta Prohm.
Another war torn country, where landmines have played havoc is Afghanistan. As a great humanitarian effort, an Indian organization has signed an agreement with the Afghanistan government to supply 1,000 prosthetic legs to terror attack victims and polio sufferers. By now readers must have guessed it that the prosthetic limbs supplied would be Jaipur foot and these would be supplied free of cost. Amina Afzali, Minister of Work, Social Affairs in Afghanistan has told the Pajhwok Afghan News agency; “Jaipur Foot” will manufacture limbs for those who have lost their legs to roadside bombings, terrorist attacks or polio,” She also hoped the assistance would further consolidate relations between the two countries.
An
agreement to the effect was inked between Afzali and DR Mehta,
founder and patron-in-chief of Jaipur Foot. Indian ambassador to
Afghanistan, Amar Sinha, said India was committed to continued
assistance to Afghanistan. India has also planned to train staff at
the Disabled Technical Institute in Afghanistan to produce artificial
limbs themselves.
I
think that what Jaipur foot has done with this agreement is something
that is beyond any words. It would bring back smile to faces of 1000
Afghani innocents, as they would once again enjoy the joys of walking
again.
20th
May 2014
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