One of the first non governmental organizations that I became aware of while growing up in India, was the Jaipur Foot Factory. It’s an impressive organization that provides an ingeniously designed, low-cost prosthetic device for the disabled. The prosthetic foot costs US $35 while a comparable device costs US $8,000. In addition, the Jaipur foot only takes 1 hour to fit while others take approximately 3 months.
The Indian government recently honored the founder of the Jaipur Foot Factory, Mr. Devendra Raj Mehta with the Padma Bhushan award, the third highest civilian award, in recognition of his contributions in the field of social work. Last year, Indians for Collective Action (ICA) had honored D.R. Mehta with their annual award for Social Innovation and he was also conferred with the prestigious Tech Museum of San Jose Equality Award a week before that.
I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Mehta and hear him speak at the ICA annual dinner where he recounted a turning point in life. In 1969 he had met with an accident causing serious injuries and numerous broken bones in his leg. Mr. D.R. Mehta recovered from the accident but was moved by the plight of those who lose limbs in similar accidents and are unable to cope with life.
In 1975, the career bureaucrat created the organization called Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahitya Samiti (BMVSS) or Jaipur Foot Factory that provides and fits the artificial limb popularly known as the Jaipur Foot free of charge to amputees. To date over one million patients have benefited from this light- weight and strong prosthetic device that provides virtually a similar range of mobility and appearance as the human foot. In 2006-2007 alone, BMVSS fitted over 70,000 limbs.
BMVSS has run Jaipur Foot fitment camps in several countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sudan etc. and is actively partnering with research institutes in India and elsewhere to improve the technology of the Jaipur Foot. The award money won by Mr. Mehta will be used to further this research.
- Nishita Bakshi
Photo courtesy of Jaipur Foot Factory
