A 22-member team of a Jaipur-based NGO recently returned from Baghdad after holding a month-long artificial limb fitment camp there.
The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayta Samiti (BMVSS) provided 882 Iraqis with artificial limbs during the camp, while 75 people were given free crutches.
D.R. Mehta, founder and chief patron of BMVSS, led the team. Two technicians were from Pakistan where BMVSS is also running a rehabilitation center. The camp was organized in association with a charitable body of Baghdad’s Abdul Hadi Chalabi Foundation.
“In all, 882 persons were equipped with artificial limbs of whom 42 were provided artificial limbs on both their legs,” Mehta said. He added that there are about 50,000 amputees in Iraq who had lost their limbs in the wars, and also because of terrorist attacks, diabetes, and traffic accidents.
Mehta said the Iraqi amputees accepted and adopted the Jaipur Foot and the Stanford Jaipur Knee because of their simple technology and light weight. The Stanford Jaipur Knee was developed by the engineering students at Stanford University, California, in association with BMVSS.
The Chalabi Foundation, Mehta said, wants to run the camp year-round so more people can benefit.
“We at BMVSS suggested that a few technicians from Iraq should be sent to Jaipur for training in our center here,” he said. Mehta added that the BMVSS would set up the center in association with Chalabi Foundation. He also urged the central government to bear the cost of training the Iraqi technicians. He said the camp would go a long way in strengthening India-Iraq ties.
