When Bhoopnarayan Jha lost his leg in an accident, the government employee also lost his will to live, until he got a “Jaipur Foot.” Made from locally available and cheap materials, the rapid-fit, prosthetic limb is handed over for free to victims of road and rail accidents or land mine blasts, giving them, and thousands of others who can ill-afford a major injury or the costs of rehabilitation, a new lease on life. The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti organization, which makes the limb, is based in Rajasthan. “I told my doctor, just kill me. Every time I saw my bandaged stump, I did not want to live,” said 48-year-old Jha, who used to cycle 20 km (about 12 miles) to work every day. “But I was up on my feet in an hour after strapping on the foot and in one month's time I could run and catch a bus.” The foot piece is made from rubber, the variety used in car tires, and is available in standard shoe sizes. The core of the foot is made from a cheap local variety of wood that is used for packing cases. The light, water-proof socket that cradles the stump is made from a high density polyethylene, the component of common water tanks. “It costs us around 1,750 rupees ($38) to make a Jaipur Foot for below-knee amputees and about 2,200 rupees ($48) for those that have had amputations above the knee,” says V R Mehta, one of the directors. “But we give it free to all patients irrespective of their financial status.” The Samiti has fitted over a million people around the world since 1975, also helping land mine victims from Kashmir and victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. The organization also gets orders from war-ravaged countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as quake-stricken Haiti, which are struggling with a large disabled population. The organization is now in talks with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to upgrade its technology and to provide funding.
