Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali, Major General Gamal Nour Eddin, the governor of Assiut, and India’s Ambassador Egypt Rahul Kulshresth inaugurated the Jaipur Foot Artificial Limb Fitment Camp on Thursday.

A number of local dignitaries, including Mustafa Abu Ghadir, chairman of the board of directors of the Productive Families Association for Rehabilitation, Training and Community Development in Assiut and Ambassador Satish Mehta, honorary director of international operations at Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), of Jaipur, India, participated in the inaugural ceremony.

Wali thanked the government of India for the initiative and expressed interest in a sustainable partnership in the long term.

Kulshresth recalled that while launching the “India for Humanity” initiative, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj said, “foreign policy is ...also about sharing what we have with others. It is about reaching out to people in other countries to see whether we can make a difference to their lives. It is about empowering people’s lives.”

(L-r) Indian Ambassador Rahul Kulshresth, Governor of Assiut Gamal Nour Eddin and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali opening the camp in Assuit

Participants in the opening visited the Jaipur Foot Camp and temporary workshop at the Productive Families Association for Rehabilitation, Training and Community Development in Assiut and met with people who had come to get artificial limbs fitted.

This was followed by the signing of a Letter of Intent and Partnership between the Ministry of Social Solidarity, BMVSS, and the Productive Families Association for Training, Rehabilitation and Community Development in Assiut.

The Jaipur Foot Artificial Limb Fitment Camp is being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Embassy of India, Cairo under the “India for Humanity” programme launched by the External Affairs Minister of India on 9 October 2018 to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

This is the first camp in West Asia region under this programme and is a part of the ever-expanding India-Egypt bilateral cooperation.

Over 525 persons with disabilities in Egypt will be provided artificial limbs in the coming six weeks, completely free of cost.

The Jaipur Foot Artificial Limb Fitment Camp is supported by Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity.

BMVSS is the technical and implementing partner of the camp. It has sent equipment, materials, and tools. The BMVSS team includes master technicians Govind Sharma and Shyamveer Singh with experience of serving over 10,000 patients each.

BMVSS was established in 1975 as a non-profit organisation to serve persons with disabilities and give them mobility and dignity. Since its inception, it has served more than 1.8 million people in India.

It is the world’s largest organisation for serving persons with disabilities. All its services are free of cost.

Besides India, BMVSS has organised 72 camps in over 32 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, bringing mobility to about 30,000 people.

Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali and Gamal Nour Eddin, Governor of Assiut, listen to Ambassador Satish Mehta, Honorary Director of BMVSS

The Jaipur Foot is the most-used artificial limb in the world. It permits a below-knee amputee to walk, run, climb a tree, drive, and squat. Most of these functions can be performed by above-knee amputees also.

The Jaipur Knee was jointly developed by BMVSS and Stanford University. TIME magazine rated it as one of the 50 best inventions of 2009.

Both the Jaipur Knee and Foot will be available at the Assiut camp.