Aurangabad to get its own artificial limb centre

AURANGABAD: A city-based hospital in association with an NGO has tied up with famous artificial limb maker, Jaipur foot, to open its centre in Aurangabad. It will be the city’s first full-time centre, likely to treat more than 40 patients per year.
The NGO, Bharat Vikas Parishad, will open a Vikalang Punarwansan Kendra on the premises of Dr Hedgewar Hospital to treat the patients free of cost. As of now three to four non-governmental organisations conduct camps twice or thrice a year and provide the famous artificial limbs.But there is no dedicated centre for it in the district due to which the patients specially coming from remote areas have to wait for months.
“We have recently identified space for the centre in the hospital and the concerned officials have given us in-principle approval for the noble cause. We hope that the centre will start treating patients from mid-February,” Shirpad Takalkar, treasurer of Aurangabd branch of Bharapat Vikas Parishad (Devgiri prant), said.
With the new facility in place, the patients in and around the district would get artificial limbs within eight to 10 days. “As of now, after participating in the camps, the patients need to wait for 25-30 days to get the artificial limb. However, at our proposed centre, we will deploy a team of technicians who will prepare the foot within the shortest possible time,” he said.
For the past many years, Bharat Vikas Parishad has been conducting camps across various locations in the district and providing Jaipur foot to the needy free of cost. “In a recent camp held in Vijapur, more than 115 physically handicapped persons approached us. However, only 53 of them could qualify for the foot on technical grounds and we offered them the artificial limbs in presence of Maharashtra state assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde,” Takalkar said.