Jaipur Foot provides 500 free prosthetic limbs

When Sudha Chandran, an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, lost her leg she believed that her dance career was over. That was until she discovered "Jaipur foot", a rubber based prosthetic leg for people with below knee amputations. After being fitted with the prosthetic limb, Sudha Chandran wrote herself into the annals of history going on to become one of the best dancers of her form, not only in India, but the world over. 

Hers is a perfect success story for Jaipur Foot, a company founded in 1975, with the intention of helping people like Sudha Chandran to overcome their disabilities and hence helping them to live up to the potential they might otherwise not have not been able to.

Since its founding, Jaipur Foot has gone on to better the lives of over 400,000 people. And now the world's leading organisation for the handicapped and creators of the Jaipur Foot, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is holding a 20-day camp in Dhaka till 24 May to provide on- the-spot artificial limb to those most in need of it. BMVSS, will be providing 300 artificial limbs to Bangladesh government's National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic (NITRO), locally known as "Pongu Hospital". The team from BMVSS will screen over a thousand applicants and will select 500 individuals who meet their criteria to benefit from the free limbs. 

The Jaipur Foot and Knee are made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon, which help with movement owing to the material's flexibility and also helps with stability. Jaipur Foot also further pledged to support NITRO by providing 1000 of their prosthetic limbs at cost price. 

The cost price will make the prosthetics limbs affordable for a large group of people. For instance, a Jaipur Foot knee replacement can set one back as little as USD 20 whilst a similar titanium-replacement will cost above USD 5000. It should also be noted that this isn't the first time Jaipur Foot have made an appearance in Bangladesh, as they also previously came two years ago to help with the Savar tragedy. Jaipur Foot deserves a lot more recognition than it currently gets the world over. This point is being made clearer right here in our country. The charity was sponsored and organised by Sadia Moyeen, Asif Moyeen and Amna Rahman, with the help and support of their family and friends.