Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Giving a leg up
|
Mobility India has won an international honour for developing a prosthesis that suits the most adverse of Indian conditions
|
There are already enquiries from countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh on the prosthesis.
THERE'S NO point in all the technological advances of the world unless they reach down to those who are in desperate need of them in forms that suit their specific conditions. That sounds like something straight out of a brochure on Third World developmental agenda. But it was an 11-year-old girl in a village near Srikakulam who taught the research group of Mobility India, working on a model of prosthesis, this fundamental truth.
"We saw this little girl who had lost her leg knee down. Someone in the village had made a prosthesis for her using a piece of bamboo. It had a rubber washer at on one end and was split at the other to fit the stump of the leg," recalls Soikat Ghosh Moulic, Programme Manager at the non-profit research and rehabilitation organisation. With all good intentions, they fitted her with a modern prosthesis.
Follow-up
But when they went back for follow-up a few months later, they found that the prosthesis was hanging in a corner of her tiny house. The girl had a simple explanation for choosing the crude prosthesis to the sophisticated one: "Water gets into it when I cross the stream to reach my school. And I don't like having to wear shoes all the time!"
So, if Mobility India had to realise its aim of reaching prostheses to all those who need them, it had to be not only priced low, but also be sturdy and suitable to both a farmer working in knee-deep slush and a mechanic on a factory floor. This big lesson from a small child became the guiding principle for the product they designed, Trans-tibial Prosthetic Modular Components, the prosthesis that goes by the product name Sathi.
The model has now won an international award — Yeogchi Wu International Educational Award by International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Close to a million people in India need prostheses and only five per cent of them have access to them, says Ritu Ghosh, Assistant Director, Technical. "And the prostheses that are available are often made of heavy material such as wood and are just not user-friendly," she adds. Sathi, unlike a conventional prosthesis, is light (made of polypropylene), can be easily assembled and maintained, and especially suited for Indian condition. "It can be fitted with a Jaipur foot, the only barefoot artificial limb in the world. That can be the single deciding factor for many Indians," points out Ritu. "You don't need any appliance other than a spanner to make minor adjustments," adds Soikat. These factors make Sathi suitable for not only India, but also other Third World countries. "We already have enquiries from countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh on Sathi," says Ritu.
Inspiration
The team that worked on Sathi, no doubt, drew inspiration from the one designed by the International Committee of Red Cross. But it introduced several features to make the module suitable for an average Indian. Pricing was also another crucial factor. While prostheses sold by a multinational brand (such as Ottobock) would cost Rs. 25,000 upwards, Sathi is available for just Rs. 3,000.
People at Mobility India concede that the costlier prostheses use light metals such as titanium, which make them last longer. But the use of such material also makes these prostheses completely inaccessible to a sizable section.
But in terms of providing easy mobility, Sathi is as good as any other, assures the Mobility India team. Soikat points to someone undergoing gait training at the centre, wearing Rs. 1 lakh-worth prosthesis, and says: "He doesn't walk any differently from one using Sathi."
For those who can't afford even Sathi, the centre helps avail subsidies under various government schemes. But this process, predictably, is snarled in red tape.
The centre is also lobbying with the Government to make procedures such as obtaining an income certificate simpler. Says Soikat: "Our aim, after all, is also to empower every person to demand a mobility aid as his or her right."
For details on Sathi and other activities of Mobility India, call 26492222 or email e-mail@mobility-india.org. Log on to www.mobility-india.org.
BAGESHREE S.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
|
