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| The newly designed- personalised footwear for diabetic patients. Pix- JJC |
By Dr.Thayalan Ambalavanar
The Jaffna Jaipur Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation has been in existence since 1987 when it was established in response to the great need for a centre that could cater to the many who had lost limbs due to the civil war. Since those early years it has continued to provide artificial limbs and mobility devices to the many thousands who lost limbs due to war, accidental trauma or diabetic foot infections. It also serves children with birth related problems such as cerebral palsy.
An area where there was only rudimentary capability was in the making of personalised footwear for those with non-healing foot ulcers or with foot deformities. Many of the non-healing foot ulcers that arise from diabetes or impaired circulation progress to the point where an amputation may be necessary. Personalised footwear that could help remove pressure from the ulcer area while walking, a technique called offloading, could help speed up the healing process thus avoiding the need for amputation.
Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in this field under the leadership of their Endocrinology Unit. Their Prosthetic and Orthotic department has been making such personalised footwear for many years. On the initiative of Prof.Felix Jebasingh, who had visited the Jaffna Jaipur Centre in 2024, it was decided to send two staff members from CMC’s P&O department to Jaffna to spend a week at the centre to train the local staff in making these special, personalised footwear.
Thus, it was that Arul Thomas (prosthetist) and John Joseph (orthotist) spent an eventful and extremely busy week at the centre from 17th February. From the outset, the dedication, cooperation and compassion that these two showed epitomised all the best qualities that CMC has stood for these many years. Though initially agreeing to see ten patients during their time in Jaffna, as more and more people turned up, they never refused and ended up helping twenty-one! Most of these people had non healing foot ulcers and had been referred by local surgeons. There were also a few children with birth abnormalities of their bones who were also helped.
Several pairs of personalised footwear were made within twenty-four hour periods for most who came for help. This is certainly the first time that such personalised footwear for these conditions have been made in this part of the country, if not in the whole country. Arul and John in addition to providing their expertise had also brought materials and instruments to donate to the centre with which they created these items of footwear. The local staff were unfamiliar with many of these items but with the help of these two trainers were able to identify similar materials that are available locally.
The staff of the centre received a great boost from this experience and at the end of the week several of them had learned the skills required to make such footwear at the centre. The visiting trainers were impressed by the enthusiasm, capability and cooperation of the local staff.
The next step in this collaboration with CMC, Vellore is for staff from the Jaffna Jaipur Centre to spend a week in the P&O department at CMC to further enhance their knowledge and skills in this area. This collaboration was possible thanks to support from the Endocrinology Unit of CMC and the International Medical Health Organisation USA.
The Jaffna Jaipur Centre is now ready to help those with foot ulcers and deformities with personalised footwear as well as diabetics who need safe footwear and thereby expand its important and ongoing contribution to the community.
Contact details Jaffna Jaipur Centre: Tel- 021 222 2574 email:jaipurj@sltnet.lk
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