Doctor developed free prosthetic legs for poor
BANGKOK POST AND AP
Therdchai: Happy
when patients smile |
Therdchai Jivacate, secretary-general of the Prostheses Foundation, has won the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his efforts in developing locally-made artificial legs for poor disabled people. The award, named after the popular Philippine president who died in a plane crash in 1957, is considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Receiving the award this year are seven individuals and one organisation from India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.
Dr Therdchai set up the foundation in 1991 under the royal patronage of the late Princess Mother and the late Princess Galyani Vadhana to provide free tailor-made artificial legs for underprivileged patients across the country.
The 68-year-old physician and his volunteer staff have travelled around Thailand for the past 16 years providing free services to rural villagers.
The foundation has so far made over 21,500 legs for amputees across the country. Thailand has about 30,000 amputees. A significant number of the leg injuries were caused by landmines.
His contribution to community work dates back to 1966. Working in the Orthopaedics Department at Chiang Mai University Hospital, the young medical graduate often had to perform surgery that involved amputations.
Seeing villagers using sticks to help them walk, he therefore set up a small unit to produce artificial limbs.
Relying on his own funds, Dr Therdchai created cheap but sturdy artificial legs made of environmentally-friendly plastic high-density polyethylene.
Dr Therdchai stresses the importance of self-reliance. All materials for his artificial legs come from local sources as they are much cheaper than their imported counterparts.
One of his artificial legs costs 2,500 baht, whereas a similar foreign-made item costs 11,000 baht. His forearm crutches are only 100 baht, compared to the 1,000-baht version available in medical stores. An artificial foot of his costs just 150 baht, while imported models sell for 3,000 baht.
He was named the Best Rural Doctor for 1993 by the National Medical Association.
Apart from his work on artificial legs, Dr Therdchai set up Thailand's only school and department for occupational therapy, as well as a special educational programme for children suffering from chronic diseases, at Maharaj Hospital in Chiang Mai.
He has also visited Laos and Cambodia to help those with missing legs as a result of landmines.
''I just feel happy seeing my patients smile when they are able to walk on both legs,'' Dr Therdchai said.
This year's other awardees include a female Philippine provincial governor who disbanded a political clan, and a couple from India who built a hospital and a school for a remote tribe.
The award for peace and international understanding went to Indonesia's Ahmad Syafii Maarif, a 73-year-old Muslim intellectual recognised for guiding fellow Muslims to embrace tolerance and pluralism as the basis for justice and harmony.
The awards will be presented on Aug 31 in Manila.
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