Jaipur foot crosses over to Pakistan

It took a BBC film to do it, but the Jaipur Foot seems set to step across to Pakistan. Lahore-based businessman Main Mansha has approached the Mahavir Viklang Samiti here, seeking a Jaipur Foot camp in Pakistan for the benfit of amputees.

A film on the Jaipur Foot that BBC aired in April this year so moved Mansha that he immediately contacted a Mumbai-based business acquaintance, Mahendra Mehta. The Lahore businessman is willing to walk the extra mile, volunteering to bear all costs.

Former SEBI chairman DR. Mehta, who heads the Mahavir Viklang Samiti, said the proposal has been conveyed to the external affairs ministry. Mehta said he ahs also told external affairs minister Natwar Singh that a Jaipur Foot camp in Pakistan would not only be a humanitarian gesture, but would also help in strengthening Indo-Pak relations.

Renowned orthopaedician Dr. PK Sethi and artisan Mastar Ram Chandra conceptualized the Jaipur Foot.

Mehta said the Samiti has studied the requirements of Pakistanis needing artificial limbs. “Jaipur Foot is the cheapest artificial limb available anywhere in the world and it costs only Rs. 1,500 a piece. A similar artificial limb in the US costs Rs. 8,000,” Mehta said

Source: Times of India

Date: October 21, 2004