ADILABAD: You rarely come across a person who is more committed to helping the disadvantaged, no matter how tough it is for them. Meet P Shyam Rao, who is that rare breed of the human being. Moved by the plight of the poor who are physically challenged, he decided to make artificial limbs at a much lower price than those available in the market.Shyam, who hails from Kollur village of Thanoor mandal in Nirmal district, joined an NGO for this purpose. The NGO, after watching his flaming desire to help the physically challenged, recommended him to Mukti Trust in Chennai where he took training in making artificial limbs.
He also trained in South Africa and Sri Lanka to make artificial limbs in a cost-effective manner. He learned which materials to be used so that quality would not be compromised and yet the price would be within the reach of the poor.Shyam visits the person who needs artificial limbs, takes their sizes, and then makes the artificial limbs at a ridiculously low price of `3,500 while a Jaipur limb costs about `40,000.
He says though the work gave him immense satisfaction, what pains him is that the oven that is necessary for making the artificial limb costs anywhere between `1.5 lakh and `2 lakh.Shyam says he was using firewood in place of an oven to melt the material. He has to get the temperature to 250 °C for melting the material which is very arduous without the oven. He has so far made 25 limbs for the physically challenged.
Associated with NGOs
Shyam worked in an organisation in Mudhole for two years from the year 2000 and then worked in the Rotary Club of Nizamabad