Swami Vivekanand Institute of Rehabilitation gets robotic machine to make artificial limbs

CUTTACK: Persons with disabilities (PwD) will no more have to wait for months to get their artificial limbs manufactured manually. From October, they can able to get the artificial limbs within three days at Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR).

The premier institute functioning under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment here at Olatpur will install a France-made 7-Axis robotics machine for manufacturing of sockets for artificial limbs.Said to be India’s first in the field of medical science, the machine has been procured by SVNIRTAR with a cost of approximately ` three crore funded by Nalco recently.

Director of SVNIRTAR Dr Shakti Prasad Das said the 7-Axis robotic machine with in-built Computer Aided Design (CAD) / Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software would be able to fabricate a prosthesis within a maximum time span of 72 hours. It will be used for perfect fitment of artificial limbs. Earlier, it was taking about a month’s time to fabricate manually, he added.

Patients with locomotor disabilities from across the country depend upon SVNIRTAR for availing artificial limbs. The installation of the robotic machine would facilitate them to get their artificial limbs fabricated within very short time. The machine has arrived in the Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics. While a new CAD-CAM lab has been set up for installation of the robot, effort is on to make it operational as soon as possible. “We are coordinating with France engineers for installation and commission of the machine by September 2018,” said Dr Das.

After functional of the robotic machine, a new era will begin in the field of transplantation of artificial limbs. Especially, the amputation patients will be benefited with perfect fitting of computerised artificial limbs. The machine would also facilitate students in learning with advance techniques, he added.