Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan, Apr 21 2010 (IPS) – Thirty-something Shazia could not contain her joy as she watched an artificial leg being strapped on her right leg, just below her knee.
My husband carried me here, but I will walk back myself, said the young woman, a wide smile on her face.
It has been two years since an accident robbed Shazia of her leg, rendering her unable to move around without help. But that was about to change today, as she waited to become one of the thousands the Artificial Limb Centre (ALC) has fitted with prosthetic limbs since opening in mid-2008.
Housed in an unassuming three-room facility, the Centre here is the only one of its kind in Sindh province. Its same-day service has seen some 3,500 disabled people arrive here on crutches or carried by someone, and then walking out on their own two feet.
The Centre provides the prosthetics for free, which is obviously more than good news for many cash-strapped disabled. Sixty-one-year-old Mirza Ahar Husain, for instance, had just about given up replacing his old artificial leg, which was chafing against his stump.
A diabetic, Husain had lost his job at a tyre shop soon after he lost his limb to gangrene in 1999. It took him three years before he could buy his artificial limb for 15,000 rupees (178 dollars), and now it was falling apart.
Related IPS Articles
Taking it off, Husain showed its crack at the calf, which he was keeping together with a wire. I also keep a sponge padding in because it hurts, he said. I need a new one, but was told it will be anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 rupees (238 to 297 dollars). Where am I supposed to get so much money?
Then, he saw a programme on television about the ALC. I came to check out if all that they were saying, about it being free, walking back home with a brand new limb the same day, etcetera, he said.
It was true, Husain said,sipping tea at the Centre. I came here at noon, I was measured, and now am waiting.
The charity Health and Social Welfare Association (HASWA) runs the ALC. Its general secretary, Syed Ali Azfar Fatemi, recalled that it all began when the charity had held a 14-day camp in Dow Medical College, in collaboration with the Rotary Club in 2007.
We had an 18-member team of which 10 experts had come from Jaipur, in India, he said. We provided 600 prosthetics and 300 calipers to polio victims.
But due to the long list of disabled people awaiting prosthetics, HASWA decided it was time to start a permanent centre. It later struck a partnership with Rotary Club-Karachi for what was to become the ALC.
The Centre fits people with prosthetics at an average of 150 a month. Each limb costs the ALC between 8,000 rupees (95 dollars) for the below-knee version to as much as 18,000 rupees (214 dollars) for above-knee replacement. In the market, a Chinese-made prosthetic costs between 20,000 rupees to 28,000 rupees (238 dollars to 333 dollars).
Stressed Fatemi: Ours is low cost, but it doesn t mean it is substandard.
He added, While a prosthetic from a shop and there are scores in Karachi weigh anywhere from three to four kilos, ours weigh even less than one kilo.
The limbs are made of an imported high-density polyethylene material, said Farzana Yaseen, who has been a technician at ALC since it opened. We get it from Jaipur.
Compared to the Chinese prosthetics, she said that those at ALC are of much hardier material, (are) wateproof and yet so much lighter.
Yaseen talked to IPS while fitting Husain with his new limb. Trained by a team from the Indian limb manufacturer, Yaseen can do all the work singlehandedly, from measuring, to making a cast, and then fitting it onto the person.
The average life of an artificial limb is about five years. For children who are growing, he said, we sometimes have to provide them with a new limb as they grow. At times people have to visit the centre and get their prosthetic adjusted.
It s a double tragedy to see people having lost their limbs and then too poor to be able to buy prosthesis, said Fatemi. There are many who come and tell us they have been immobile for years.
He cited the case of a 40-something woman who had not walked for 18 years. Her legs had been chopped off in a family feud, he said. She was brought to us by her two grown sons when they found out about the centre. We are told she is working in the fields like other women and helping with harvesting!
Meantime, Shazi was now up and walking with the help of parallel bars. It hurts, she said to no one particular, beads of sweat on her forehead. Technicians encouraged her softly, telling her she would have to walk a little while before she got used to it.
Shazia was seven months pregnant when she lost her leg in a road accident. Her husband Khalid said with her unable to move easily, he had to take on so much responsibilities, including taking care of their daughter, now two years old.
Husband and wife were already making their way out of ALC when Shazia turned around to announce happily: I m going to the park today with my daughter.