PM: Permanent limb centre for Trinidad and Tobago

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said an artificial foot centre will soon be set up in Trinidad and Tobago, which will benefit not only this country but the Caricom region.

She made the announcement at the inauguration ceremony of the Artificial Limb Fitment Camp, held at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain on October 3.

Over 800 people are expected to benefit from the donations of prosthetic limbs, a promise made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited TT in July this year. Apart from the donations, the limb centre will be established with financial support from India.

“Through a partnership with the Jaipur Foot Camp, we will be establishing an artificial limb centre in TT. It is not just for TT, but we can reach out to our Caricom brothers and sisters in the region. Ministers (Barry) Padarath and (Saddam) Hosein met with the delegation and others before this event and there will be exciting things we will be working with for the development of TT.

“They will set up the camp and they are donating the machinery, which will cost US$100,000 to set up, and they have pledged US$75,000 for this project in grant funding. This is tremendous humanity and generosity for which we thank them.”

She said over the next 50 days, hundreds of citizens will be measured, fitted and guided to walk again, at no cost to themselves and their families. She said this was the fulfilment of Modi’s promise.

“Just three months later, that promise has taken foot in TT with containers of lightweight limbs shipped from Jaipur, India, guided by High Commissioner (Pradeep Singh) Rajpurohit, partnered with several volunteer groups, our ministries of Social Development and Health and the renowned Jaipur Foot Organisation to make Prime Minister Modi’s vision a reality.”

TT 2nd highest rate of diabetes in Americas

She said the Ministry of Health reports 350-400 lower-limb amputations each year, mostly due to diabetes and road-traffic injuries.

“With one in six adults living with diabetes in TT, the second-highest rate in the Americas, too often, a small foot wound spirals into the loss of a limb. The economic toll is severe, as a single amputation can reduce a household’s income by 20-40 per cent, while a prosthetic limb costs $15,000–$40,000, far beyond the reach of most families.”

Persad-Bissessar said she was brought to tears when she saw patients who were fitted over the past two days walking through the event.

“Only yesterday they were fitted with new limbs and they were already walking. There is hope, as eight in ten amputees fitted with a quality prosthesis regain basic mobility and one in two returns to work or school within a year.

“If even two-thirds of the 800 beneficiaries of this camp regain the ability to earn or study, over 500 people will be restored to full participation in society. This will ignite a wave of productivity, renewed confidence, and dignity across families and communities, transforming lives and strengthening the very fabric of our nation.”

The foot camp is being carried out by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), which, according to its website, is the world’s largest organisation dedicated to the rehabilitation of disabled persons. It has provided over 2.5 million artificial limbs, calipers, and other aids and appliances, totally free of charge, to disabled people in India and 27 other countries.

Rajpurohit said TT has a high number of amputees in comparison to its small population.

“When I proposed this project, I was told normally a camp of 600 people was done for a fairly large country. I proposed about 1,200 based on my assessment as a medical doctor. We see very high incidences of diabetes here and because of that, and because we have a pretty large number of above-knee amputations, I was able to convince my ministry and government to allocate 800 beneficiaries for this camp.”

Rajpurohit said the camp started on October 3 at the National Council for Indian Culture’s Nagar in Chaguanas and will continue for 50 days.

“The camp has already been over-subscribed, as we have 800 beneficiaries but the number registered with us is more than 800 and we are in the process of accommodating to the extent possible the maximum names. We are already slotted potential beneficiaries from across the country, some are coming from far-flung areas.

“We are also expecting beneficiaries from other island countries, Grenada and Dominica, but that is outside of the 800 beneficiaries, and we have made the additional accommodations for that.”

Rajpurohit said as part of the permanent camp announced by Persad-Bissessar, TT technicians will be sent to train in India and Indian trainers will be brought in TT to set up the centre.

BMVSS founder Devendra Raj Mehta thanked Persad-Bissessar for giving him the opportunity to serve the disabled people of TT.

“They are among the most distressed segment of the population, having lost their limbs, they lost their mobility, they lost an income, and they lost their social respect. They suffered not from one but from four disabilities, psychological also included. Now to make them normal again, what is to be done?

"We provide artificial limbs of a prototype we innovated in Jaipur, and this has become the most widely used limb in the world. This is the meaning of universal health. If people are in trouble, we have to help them.”