Stanley alumni sponsor medico prosthetic leg

COIMBATORE: In a heartwarming gesture, a group of Stanley Medical College (SMC) alumni recently pooled in money to help a final-year MBBS student of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) get a new prosthetic leg.

The student, Reshma (name changed) of Tiruchy who had lost the below-knee portion of her leg in a car accident in her childhood, was in dire need of a lightweight alternative to her heavy prosthetic limb. Owing to the weight of the prosthetic limb, she was suffering from pain. This was when doctors belonging to the 1983 batch of the SMC, Chennai, chipped in to help Reshma.

S Vetrivelchezian, Director, Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of CMCH, got in touch with his batchmates at the SMC for help as Reshma was not covered under any insurance scheme.  'Tejas Trust', a not-for-profit organisation run by a few of the alumni, helped Reshma get a lightweight prosthetic limb, which costs around Rs 15,000, Vetrivelchezian said.

CMCH dean (additional charge) P Kalidas encouraged the public to contribute prostheses to those in need on their important occasions such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries.