An artificial limbs fitment camp was inaugurated in Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The camp has been set up with the support of the Indian government and forms part of the week-long celebrations to mark ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ (75 years of India’s Independence) which commenced with the 73rd Republic Day celebrations on 26 January 2022.
The High Commissioner of India to Colombo Gopal Baglay and Sri Lanka’s State Minister of National Security and Disaster Management, Chamal Rajapaksa, inaugurated the camp in Ranaviru Seva Authority premises in Sri Lanka.
The month-long camp will serve a cross-section of people from different regions of Sri Lanka.
The camp is being organised by an Indian non-government organisation Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), which works for the physical and socio-economic rehabilitation of the physically disabled. The Jaipur based NGO founded in 1975, is also the world’s largest organisation for the differently-abled in terms of the fitment of artificial limbs and other related aids.
BMVSS had previously organised two camps in Sri Lanka- in Vavuniya in March-April 2010 and in Jaffna in September 2011. More than 2,500 people had then benefitted from these camps with more than 1600 alone getting the ‘Jaipur Foot’.
‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ includes several features including an exhibition on the Buddhist heritage of India, unveiling the bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in the Sri Palee campus of the University of Colombo.
