| Jaipur Foot Production Unit (JFPU) |
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| Jaipur Foot Production Unit - the unit is specially designed for disabled women to work and produce feet |
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| Jaipur Foot - childsize |
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| Jaipur Foot - for 'Sathi' |
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| Jaipur Foot Production Unit (JFPU) - fabrication |
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In the course of our work in India we found that quality assured low cost feet were scarce. The Jaipur feet produced by various small workshops were bad in quality and lasted only for a few months. People who had lost limbs who were also poor cannot afford to go for regular replacements. We decided to incorporate the setting up a Jaipur Foot Production Unit when we helped to establish Mobility India’s Rehabilitation, Research and Training Centre (MIRRTC).
Our aim was to make it a unique space for a group of disabled women who will be trained to produce Jaipur feet and manage the unit. A very experienced foot maker from Jaipur was contracted to train the women and to help with acquiring the metal dies. To help standardise the fabrication process, DDP and MI produced a Jaipur Foot Manual in booklet and video formats. A large room had been set aside for the unit and the space was specially designed to be totally accessible and easy for women with different disabilities to negotiate around and use.
The metal dies that are used to produce the life like shape and feel of the Jaipur foot are heavy objects. So one of the features to make it easy to move these dies and an example of accessibility and good design is the L-shaped work top. It has a built in groove and rollers that helped to slide the dies along the production line. Other features include varying degrees of automation to press and lock the various parts of the die and trolleys to move raw materials and the dies around the production space.
The Jaipur Foot Production Unit has provided this small group of disabled women an amazing opportunity to learn skills and to earn a regular salary so that they can live independently. They rightly take great pride in the fact that their Jaipur feet are regularly delivered to rehabilitation workshops across India and overseas.
Having a regular supply of Jaipur feet in house also meant that the Jaipur foot technology could be included in MI’s 18 month prosthetics course giving it greater exposure via the many trainees from within India and from abroad.
Mobility India has also adapted the ankle fitting of the Jaipur foot so that it can be used with ‘Sathi’ - a low cost trans-tibial modular prosthetic kit for below knee amputations which is being marketed in India.
One criticism of the Jaipur Foot is that is heavy. MI’s R & D team have been working on reducing the weight by finding new sources for lighter components especially the rubber used in outer layer and wood in the ankle casing. |
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