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INDIA BEATS
Helping hand
DR. G. NAGAMALLIKA
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An NGO that provides artificial limbs is a boon for those who cannot afford expensive treatment.
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Light provides such support to people, especially in rural and other interior areas.
Towards a normal life: At one of the camps.
“When a major road accident rendered me handicapped for life, I thought there was nothing to live for. With my aged parents, wife and two children as dependants, I did not know what to do. It was impossible to pursue agriculture, the only occupation I knew”, says Jayababu, from Krishnaraopalem village, Andhra Pradesh, who lost his left lower limb. Similar was the plight of Samar Singh from Korba district, Chattisgarh, whose hand was amputated due to an accident while working in a coal mine.
For several such unfortunate people in India who lose their limbs, there is one ray of hope. The government, through the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), provides Assistance to Disabled Persons (ADIP) along with a few NGOs. These work in tandem to provide artificial limbs free to those people who have lost limbs in freak accidents or due to the very nature of their occupations. It is indeed a boon for those from the lower strata of society who require the much-needed succour. Often, victims, unable to cope with the situation and the trauma that accompanies such accidents, get into a state of depression and sometimes even end their lives.
Lighter limbs
One organisation that has been working in collaboration with ALIMCO through its General Humanitarian Trust, “LIGHT”, is LANCO, with its headquarters in Hyderabad. The LIGHT programme uses its project sites in Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka to manufacture artificial limbs. While ALIMCO provides the basic raw materials, like the foot and ankle blocks, LANCO fabricates artificial limbs using an exo-skeletal process which helps the limb be light and not heavy like the famous Jaipur foot. In addition, they also fabricate prosthetic devices for amputees, supporting orthosis devices like callipers for polio victims.
The existing limb is first measured to know the actual size. An artificial limb is then moulded using PP sheet moulds, from where a negative is prepared. These negatives are then made into positives and then cast into an oven. This extensive process can take anywhere between 10 to 15 days, states Vijay Goswami, Manager, LIGHT. Each limb can cost about Rs. 5,000, he added.
LIGHT works providing such support to people, especially in rural and other interior areas where screening camps are conducted twice a month in villages and mandals to first identify the need and also to select those people who can gain from these limbs. Those that require surgical intervention or those that cannot be fitted with artificial limbs have to be eliminated, depending on the type of injury. Once the people are selected and the exact number is known, the required number of limbs are manufactured and distributed in training camps conducted the following month. Here they are either provided with the limbs free of cost or charged a partial fee, depending on the patient’s financial circumstances. On an average, there can be around 30 requests for limbs.
High risk areas
There are some potential areas where personal disasters can occur, like agriculture, stone crushing, coal or gold mines. Loss of limbs can also be health-related, due to problems like diabetes or due to accidents. “Of these, at least 20 per cent are from the agricultural sector” says R.S. Sarath, CEO of LIGHT. This brings to light the gross neglect and apathy that surround the daily wage earners and even employees in high risk jobs with increasing dependency on heavy machinery. For instance, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has a high incidence of accidents due to stone crushing quarries, while the cause for such incidents in a place like Korba in Chattisgarh is the presence of coal mines. “The magnitude of such accidents is so high that the presence of government or the few NGOs that work in these areas is just not enough,” says Sarath. “A lot more needs to be done”, he says. “We are trying to extend our operations by launching mobile shops through which we can reach out to many more, while covering larger areas. As of now, we have covered all the districts of Andhra Pradesh. We are going to cover more areas in other States too, depending on the budget allocation”, he further adds. As of now they have artificial limb centres in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, Korba in Chattisgarh, Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu and Udupi in Karnataka. So far they have distributed 6,000 limbs, 11,000 tricycles and wheel chairs from the year 2000, when the project was launched.
Such efforts indeed provide confidence like in the case of Jayababu who is now able to walk and is running a small shop in his village. In his own words, the limb has provided him with a new lease of life. Similarly, Samar Singh is able to lead an almost normal life, performing his daily activities with his artificial hand. Hopefully this is only the beginning for more such enterprises.
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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