She lost both her legs in an accident when she was only 26 years old. Over the next four years, Muniamma (name changed) has spent a lot of money in medical aid and related treatments. It was only in the beginning of this year that they heard through friends about a three-day camp that would be held at Hassan in Karnataka, where prosthetic limbs were provided to amputees from Hassan and the neighbouring areas. She went, got medically examined and fitted with prosthetic legs. “Now I can walk again!” she says with her face lighting up. The ‘Mega Limb Camp’, organised early this year by the Bengaluru-based Himalaya Drug Company, benefitted around 300 people, says Rajesh Krishnamurthy, the company’s business director, consumer products division. The camp attracted men, women and even children who had either lost their limbs to accidents or gangrene from infected wounds or diabetes. Some of the children had deformed limbs due to polio or birth anomalies. After doctors examined them, these patients were fitted with new artificial limbs that could help them walk back home from the camp on the same day, after a procedure of three to four hours. At the camp itself, one hopeful says, “I heard about the camp and quickly planned to visit Hassan. I’ve met the doctors here, I am hopeful that I will be able to walk again, help my family financially and be independent.”
-
The first hesitant steps to a new future
