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A thousand mutilated war victims receive artificial limbs
by Melani Manel Perera
In a rehabilitation and assistance centre Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang the Samiti Sahay (Bmvss), India's number one NGO in the world, has distributed 535 artificial limbs, 228 mechanical braces and 400 crutches. Among them was the famous "Jaipur foot" a low cost artificial limb (just 28 dollars), durable, waterproof and flexible, allowing users to run and ride a bicycle.
Colombo (AsiaNews) - The Indian Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahay Samiti (Bmvss) of Jaipur (Rajasthan State), the largest NGO in the world in the field of prosthetic limbs and artificial legs, has set up camp for a month (3 - September 30) to provide assistance to victims of the thirty-year ethnic conflict in northern Sri Lanka. In a statement, the Indian government (the only contributor to the camp) said it was "pleased to have helped people regain mobility, dignity and new self-sustaining possibilities."
Led by a team of 20 Bmvss activists, the camp has provided 535 artificial limbs, 228 mechanical braces and 400 crutches, to 1,163 people. Among the various devices, the famous "Jaipur foot" a low cost artificial limb (just 28 dollars), durable, waterproof and flexible. The prosthesis - invented in 1970 by Indian orthopedic surgeon Pramod Karan Sethi and by the craftsman Ram Chandra Sharmal – it can be worn with or without shoes and allows users to run and ride a bicycle.
Last year, the Bmvss organized a similar camp in Manik Farm in Vavuniya, the last refugee camp on the island (which risks closure). At that time, about 1,400 people with disabilities received 1,087 artificial prostheses, 123 crutches and 190 mechanical braces.
Founded in 1975, the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahay Samiti has set up similar camps in about 25 countries. In each of these, at least 20 thousand people have benefited from the Jaipur foot or Jaipur knee, for a total of 1.2 million people around the world. Some members of the care team were people with disabilities, to whom the Bmvss has given assistance and a job. Today they are highly skilled technicians.
From 1983 to 2009, these areas of Sri Lanka were the scene of a bloody civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) that wanted to create an independent state (Tamil Eelam) in those provinces. The long ethnic conflict ended with the defeat of the rebels. According to a disputed UN report – which accuses Sri Lanka of war crimes - the military bombing killed more than 40 thousand civilians in the last phase of the conflict (2005-2009). In addition, the country still registers 200 thousand IDPs (internally displaced persons).