JAIPUR: A special camp of the world-famous Jaipur Foot Artificial Limb Fitment was inaugurated at the Baghdad International Fair Grounds.
This camp has been sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA) under its ‘India for Humanity’ programme and is being organised by Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), Jaipur, the world’s largest organisation for the rehabilitation of lower-limb handicapped persons.
Highlights of the special camp
Dr. Hameed Al-Ghazzi, Secretary General, Council of Ministers, Dr. Hisham Al-Alawi, Under Secretary, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Hasan Al-Tamini, of Ministry of Health, graced the occasion. General Maher Al-Zubeiri, Executive Director of the Iraqi Indian Economic Cooperation Foundation, partnered with the Embassy of India to organize the camp in which over 1000 Iraqi disabled persons will be rehabilitated. A 13-member technical team under the leadership of S P Bahugana, Administrative Officer of the BMVSS was sent for this camp.
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Al-Ghazzi thanked the Indian Government for helping the persons with disabilities of Iraq and lauded the work done by BMVSS. He hoped this collaboration will continue in future and offered the Iraqi government support for establishing a permanent centre. He also requested that the Indian technical team stay beyond their scheduled departure date and continue their work.
Satish Mehta, the Executive President of the BMVSS, who is a former Indian Ambassador to Kuwait offered to train Iraqi technicians in Jaipur Foot technology and provide technical support to help Iraq set up a permanent centre.
'India for Humanity' programme
The founder and the Chief patron of the BMVSS, D R Mehta said that the ‘India for Humanity’ programme was launched to commemorate the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi in 2018 by late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Under this programme more than 12,000 handicapped persons in over 21 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands have already been rehabilitated, exemplifying India’s belief in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam -the world is a family.
BMVSS had earlier conducted two camps in Iraq - the first in Baghdad in 2010 at which 882 limbs were fitted and the second by the Embassy of India under the ‘India for Humanity’ programme in 2018-2019 at which 603 limbs were fitted in Karbala, Iraq.
