Homage to Barefoot Innovator Dr P.K.Sethi

Dr. P. K. Sethi, who invented the affordable prosthesis called the Jaipur foot, which has helped millions of amputees in developing countries to lead normal lives, died Sunday in Jaipur, India. He was 80.The Jaipur foot, which has never been patented, is available in more than 25 countries, most of them poor, many of them with great numbers of land-mine victims. Unlike many high-priced prostheses in developed countries, it can be made by traditional craftsmen, lasts more than five years and costs about $30, making it affordable for mass distribution.Pramod Karan Sethi was born on Nov. 28, 1927, in the ancient northern Indian city of Benares (now Varanasi), on the banks of the Ganges. His father was a professor of physics at Benares Hindu University. On completing his medical education in India and Britain, he became a lecturer in surgery at Sawai Man Singh Medical College and Hospital in Jaipur.Dr. Sethi came up with his invention after years of extensive research. He was helped by Ramachandra Sharma, a semiliterate craftsman who had been teaching lepers to make handicrafts and who became his assistant....read