Iraqi nationals learn to make ‘Jaipur Foot’

JAIPUR - A group of four Iraqi nationals learnt the art of making the ‘Jaipur Foot’, a rubber-based prosthetic leg, at a training camp organized here, in order to treat war victims back home.

The delegation from the Abdul Hadi Chalabi Foundation, an Iraqi non-governmental organization, is undergoing training at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), a charitable organization in Jaipur.

This initiative comes after a team from Jaipur set up a successful camp in war-ravaged Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad in March this year.

Elated with the response, the embassy requested the Indian government of India, to train few of their nationals in prostheses making, so that the war victims can be given a new lease of life.

“The people of the Embassy really liked it and informed us that India has received great recognition in Iraq through this camp. Then they sent a proposal to the Government of India that they will bear the expenses of their training. This proposal was also passed,” said D. R. Mehta, the Founder and Chief Patron of BMVSS.

“So, now we will impart them training for the next three months. Three people have come here and they don’t know either Hindi or English and we don’t know Arabic, so an interpreter has come along with them. So, he is helping out in communication,” he added.

Mehta added that the month-long camp in Baghdad helped over 1,000 people who had lost their legs in landmine blasts to use artificial.

“The news of the camp that took place in Iraq, spread to U.A.E., Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries,” said Mehta.

“After the training concludes here and people in Iraq get artificial legs in the centre to be set up there, so Jaipur Foot will get promoted in a big way in all Arab countries,” he added.

The ‘Jaipur Foot’ is mainly made of rubber, wood and aluminium and can be assembled easily. The low cost of this artificial limb has made it extremely popular in war-torn countries.

Ahmad Tofique, the delegation leader and interpreter, enumerated the importance of the ‘Jaipur Foot’.

“Jaipur limbs have a very good specification. First, it is lightweight. Our patients in Baghdad were using another kind of artificial limbs which were heavy. The Jaipur Foot is lighter, plus it has got special joints which help normal activities. Third, the cost is very low,” said Tofique.

A person fitted with the Jaipur Foot can walk like a normal person without a stick or support, and even run, ride a bicycle and climb a tree because the Jaipur limb has a very comfortable stump-socks interface.

The NGO’s first ‘Jaipur Foot’ camp in Kabul was held in 1996 at the behest of India’s Foreign Ministry when it provided 1,105 artificial limbs.

Originally developed by a local orthopaedician Dr. Pramod Karan Sethi, a fellow of Britain’s Royal College of Surgeons, and a sculptor named Ram Chandra, the main advantage of this prosthesis is its lightness and mobility. By Lokendra Singh(ANI)