Union
Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh
Vardhan Dedicates a Low Cost Motorized Wheelchair to the Nation
The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth
Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan dedicated a low cost motorized wheelchair called Locomo-WC
to the Indian persons with disabilities. Speaking on the occasion he said all
such technical advancement should be made accessible the needy poor also. The
Minister said that our Scientists have now developed capacity to be able to
reach various advance technologies as required by the people.
The Wheel Chair was developed by the Ministry of Science
& Technology under the Department of Biotechnology, (DBT)’s “Make-in-India
initiative”.
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Dr. VijayRaghavan,
Dr. Rajesh Kapur, Advisor DBT and Padma Bhushan Major
(Retd) HPS Ahluwalia, the Chairman of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, (ISIC) New Delhi were
present at the event.
The motorized wheelchair originally designed
at the Human Engineering Research Lab, University of Pittsburg under the joint
international collaborative program of DBT and USA government has been completely
remodeled to suit Indian conditions. The Medical Director & Chief of
Spine Service Dr. H S Chhabra and Mr. Nekram Upadhaya at ISIC had further
worked on the Wheel Chair to remodel it to face the dual challenges of uneven
terrain in rural India and prohibitive costs which limits the accessibility of
the wheelchairs available in the market.
Estimated
cost of LOCOMO would be around Rs 45,000 as compared to the imported motorized wheelchair
which could cost Rs 1.5 lakhs. The cost again is expected to come down with
mass production and tax exemptions.
The uniqueness of LOCOMO lies in its
suspension system with linear links used to make all four wheels operate
independently to make it suitable to handle uneven terrain also.
LOCOMO could withstand rugged conditions and
at the same time is also comfortable easy to manipulate and is available at an
affordable cost. It is also light weight, simple to handle, easy to fold and
reassemble.
LOCOMO will also make people with disability
as independent as possible, leading to improved quality of life, social relationships
and physical health.
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