Jaipur to Kabul: India's humanitarian aid to people of Afghanistan with a prosthetic touch

New Delhi | More than 70 people in Afghanistan have received a new lease of life thanks to India's humanitarian assistance to that country, under which they have received prosthetic limbs, offering them physical comfort and mental ease.

A five-day "Jaipur Foot" camp was organised in Kabul recently to help rehabilitate several differently-abled people.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal shared the information in a post on X on Sunday.

He also shared some photos showing volunteers providing prosthetic limbs to the amputees.

"As part of India's ongoing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan, a five-day Jaipur Foot camp was organised in Kabul by BMVSS, Jaipur," Jaiswal said in his post.

The camp was held in the Afghan capital through an Indian charitable organisation that has been working in this field since the 1970s.

"The camp saw an enthusiastic response, with around 75 prosthetic limbs successfully fitted," the MEA spokesperson added.

Rajasthan-based Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is known globally for its "Jaipur Foot" and rehabilitating differently-abled people.

The name "Jaipur Foot" is well-known, also for people living in conflict-hit areas and war zones, as limb injuries are common for those living in the shadow of hostilities.

The BMVSS provides artificial limbs ("Jaipur Foot" variety), calipers, wheelchairs, tricycles (hand-pedalled), crutches, hearing aids etc. to differently-abled people.

Most of the work of the Jaipur-based organisation is done at its 24 permanent centres as part of the outreach programme, according to its website.

"BMVSS normally holds about 50 on-the-spot limb/caliper fitment camps in a year in different districts and remote areas of India. For these camps, the technicians carry equipment and materials in hired trucks or they go in the mobile workshops of BMVSS. These teams set up temporary workshops at camp sites where patients turn up with support of local organisers and get the limbs," the website says.

The organisation also holds on-the-spot limb or caliper-fitment camps in foreign countries.

"This is done at the instance of either the government of that country or the government of India or some donors. For these camps too, teams of doctors and technicians are sent by BMVSS to the determined locations along with equipment and materials," the website says.

The technicians are sent by air and the equipment and materials mostly by ship. In these cases also, temporary workshops are set up by the teams sent by the BMVSS at the locations already identified. The local organisers bring patients to the camp sites. The limbs or calipers are fabricated and fitted to the patients in one to three days, the website says.

According to a tabulated data-sheet available on the website, from 1975 till March 31 last year, 111 camps were held covering 44 countries, spanning from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and Indonesia to Namibia.

An ambassador of Afghanistan in the past has visited the "Jaipur Foot" centre at the BMVSS.