Technology is for wiping tears
31/Jan/2004 : New Delhi

Rockets and Missiles are there only for deterring enemy not to harm our country? Technology is universal by nature. The technology that goes into making missiles can also help a polio affected child as real leg support.

The light metal used in missiles help to lift off bearing so much heat, the same light metal helps the polio affected child to walk and play like a butterfly. There are spin off from the Defence, Nuclear and Space Technologies from which solutions for cost effective medical devices could be developed.

Why our people should be forced to buy expensive foreign products during his distress with diseases? Can our indigenous technology provide a solution to common man shielding him from the threat of financial disaster in saving life in an emergency health situation ?

The answer to such questions led to the adaptation of indigenous technologies from all sectors into creation of an organisation called Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT). It was created in 1993 bringing together various Government Departments and Medical Institutes. For the first time Engineers and Doctors were brought together to work in a hospital environment to develop affordable solutions for financially crippled patients with their healthcare problems. The efforts of inter-disciplinary teams cutting across organizational boundaries have fructified in the form of ` A light weight limb support for polio affected patients called Floor Reaction Orthosis (FRO). The application of ultra-strong fiber reinforced plastic used to make missile nose cones led to the replacement of a 4 Kg conventional caliper into a 400 g FRO.

Courtesy: http://www.abdulkalam.com