THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For a differently-abled person, a motorised wheelchair offers far greater mobility when compared to a normal one. It is when the person is too weak to propel himself on a normal wheelchair by pushing the hand on the rails of the main wheels that the motorised version turns out to be a real blessing.
Additional Chief Secretary K M Abraham, in charge of the Social Justice Department in 2014, suggested the idea of developing motorised wheelchairs at a low cost. Based on this idea, the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum (KSSTM) made a detailed study of the motorised wheelchairs available in the market.
“Many such machines are available in the international market, but they are too expensive,” KSSTM Director Arul Gerald Prakash told Express. “In India, Ostrich is one of the leading suppliers of motorised wheelchairs. But the cost of the lowest model with limited features is `69,000. In the case of imported wheelchairs, the cost per unit can go up to `1.25 lakh.”
The aim of KSSTM was to develop a wheelchair with most of the features of imported ones at less than half their price. The draft project proposal was submitted in May 2014. Based on the proposal, an agreement was signed with the Kerala State Handicapped Persons’ Welfare Corporation for developing 11 motorised wheelchairs and 11 power beds at a cost of `12.36 lakh.
“The first prototype was presented before a committee chaired by the then Minister for Social Justice,” Prakash said. “The cost of development and fabrication of one motorised wheelchair came up to `43,000. If we go in for mass production, the cost per unit will be less than `30,000.”
The works of the 11 motorised wheelchairs were completed in November 2016 and the final testing was done by July 2017. KSSTM is now working on the development of the first prototype power bed.
“Since KSSTM is unable to mass-produce motorised wheel chairs, we are ready to offer the technological know-how to the Kerala State Handicapped Persons’ Welfare Corporation for mass production,” Prakash said.