WASHINGTON, Dec 14:The iconic Jaipur Foot is planning to scale up its operations to provide artificial limb free of cost to physically challenged people both in India and across the world.
For this, it’s parent body Bhagwan Mahaveer Sahayata Samiti is working on a plan to use modern information technologies and latest advancement in medical field to bring artificial limbs to the doorsteps of Divyang or physically challenged individuals.
“Our leadership team, including founder and chief patron D R Mehta is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aspiration of a healthy India, of which Ayushman Bharat is a core component,” Jaipur Foot USA chairman Prem Bhandari told PTI in an interview.
In Washington for a day on Friday to meet Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, New York-based Bhandari said that early this month a physically challenged woman in Philippine, a sister of an embassy driver, has sent pictures over WhatsApp of her leg which she lost in an accident.
Based on the pictures, doctors at Jaipur Foot, which has an office in Manila, manufactured artificial limb for her.
“In less than a week’s time she was mobile,” he said, adding that a similar help was provided to a physically challenged individual in Germany. For privacy reason, he did not disclose names of the beneficiaries.
Jaipur Foot traditionally holds camps within the country and now with the financial grant from the External Affairs Ministry has been organising camps in various parts of the world, in particularly in the third-world country to provide artificial lambs to the needy.
While in the market, it costs somewhere between USD7,000 to USD15,000, Jaipur Foot, a non-profit body provides its free of cost. It receives corporate grants and donations to meet its expenses.
Inspired by the two recent cases of Philippines and Germany, Bhandari said the leadership team of Jaipur Foot is exploring the possibility of making it accessible at mass level.
“We want to help in the mobility of every physically challenged individual in the world,” he said.
“Since it is practically not possible to hold physical camps all across the world, we are brainstorming how we can leverage the modern information technology, and advancement of medical science to deliver artificial limbs at the doorsteps of every physically challenged individuals all over the world, Bhandari said.
And within India, Bhandari said Jaipur foot wants to provide mobility to all the Divyang. They constitute a large segment of our society, he added. (PTI)
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