A Camp to provide artificial limbs was jointly inaugurated by Chamal Rajapaksa, Minister of Irrigation and State Minister of National Security & Disaster Management who is also the Chair of the India-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Association, and High Commissioner of India to Colombo Gopal Baglay on 2 February 2022 at the Ranaviru Seva Authority premises in Gampaha.
The Camp will serve a cross-section of people from the Sri Lankan society, spread across different regions of the country over a period of more than one month The Camp is supported by the Government of India assistance and conducted by an Indian NGO Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), which works for physical and socio-economic rehabilitation of the physically disabled. The Jaipur-based NGO, which was 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.
It may be recalled that BMVSS had organised two camps in Sri Lanka earlier – Vavuniya in March-April 2010; and Jaffna in September 2011. More than 2500 people had then benefitted from these camps with more than 1600 alone getting the ‘Jaipur Foot’.
Inauguration of the Artificial Limb Fitment Camp in Sri Lanka 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. These celebrations consist of an Exhibition on Buddhist Heritage of India, unveiling the bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in Sri Palee Campus of the University of Colombo, among others. The Artificial Limb Fitment Camp exemplifies Government of India’s guiding philosophy in developmental partnership with Sri Lanka – of making a palpable impact to the lives of the people of Sri Lanka in accordance with the priorities of the Government of Sri Lanka.
