Technology lends a helping hand to disabled

BIONIC PEOPLE: Artificial limbs are not cheap, but can enable people live without a handicap.

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New Delhi: The Jaipur blasts have left many people maimed for life, but there is some hope in sight. A new technology, offered by companies like Touch Bionics makes it possible for people to be fitted with artificial limbs that can perform many functions akin to a human limb.

Says Malvika Iyer, "I was thirteen. I found this defused bomb near my house. I was playing with it. It exploded and I lost my hands."

Malvika Iyer did survive and how — 95 per cent in her school exams, the highest in Tamil Nadu, admission to Delhi's St Stephens college and glowing accolades in the media.

For six years, Malvika challenged life with an artificial limb. Yet, something was missing.

"There were still things I couldn't do like tying my hair or picking up a plate. That hurt, more so because I was trying so hard to be normal," she recalls.

That's when she discovered an artificial hand from the company, Touch Bionics. In the artificial hand, every finger moves individually, just like a real hand. Small batteries inside power them for up to 24 hours.

And a specially designed sheath looks and feels just like real skin. Yet, it's when this machine attaches to a human arm, that the real magic begins.

Director Touch Bionics, Gaurav Mishra says, "Once an amputation is done, the brain doesn't know a hand is not available. It still functions in the same manner."

When her brain orders Malvika's fingers to move, muscles in her forearm still jump. Sensors inside the artificial hand provided by Touch Bionics react to those twitches and convert them into electronic commands for her new hand.

Malvika is the first Indian ever to get an iLimb. At Rs 14.5 lakh, the limb is not cheap, but Malvika says it has changed her life.

India has more disabled people than anywhere else in the world. Bionic enhancements are available for the arms, the legs, even the eyes. But till the Government and insurance companies find a way to subsidise their cost, only a lucky few like Malvika will be able to take on life without a handicap.