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Kamoles Bishaws is a bright young man of from the village of Jaliapara in the Southwestern part of Bangladesh. The loss of his leg several years ago was a severe setback. But thanks to his own determination and a new prosthesis made possible by the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF), he’s once again leading a happy, productive life.
Kamoles, now age 24, is the youngest son of three brothers and sisters. Back in 2002, he says, he was just an ordinary business student, looking hopefully towards the future. “Everybody has a plan on how to build up their life, just as I had,” he says. “I wanted to complete my study and then be a businessman.” His father would buy fish from a wholesale market and sell it locally.
Life in Bangladesh
Living and working in Bangladesh is fraught with danger. Overloaded trucks, buses, and passenger cars share narrow roads with ox-drawn wagons, push carts, and pedestrians. Collisions are frequent, and many limbs and lives are lost. Infections of wounds are common, especially in remote areas. In the absence of antibiotic drugs, amputations are often the last line of defense to save a person's life.
The Day Everything Changed
On May 2, 2002, Kamoles’ father asked him to buy some fish to sell. Kamoles relates what happened next.
“Early in the morning I jumped on a van to buy fish at Karal Bazar. I took the seat next to the driver. The market is more than 25 kilometers from my house. After driving 8-10 km, the driver looked as if he was getting sleepy. Suddenly the van hit a tree by the side of road, and the frame of the van broke and hit my right leg with such force that my leg was crushed from below the knee.”
Other passengers in the van brought Kamoles to Khulna Government Hospital. The doctor there tried his best to save his leg, but after two days the condition of Kamoles’ leg deteriorated. His father then took Kamoles to Calcutta in Northeast India to be treated. But all efforts failed. As a result, on May 20, 2002 doctors removed Kamoles leg from below the knee.
Ruined by Hospital Bills
“We stayed in Calcutta for more than one and a half months. My father used all his savings to pay for my treatment. He even sold his land. So now we are landless and penniless”, says Kamoles. “The accident destroyed all my plans and disabled my family. Suddenly my family had to live from hand to mouth, so my parents couldn’t afford my studies anymore”, he says, as tears stream down his face.
In December 2003 the Rotary Club in Khulna made a prosthesis for Kamoles. But it didn’t fit. It was too tall and too heavy so he couldn’t use it for very long.
One day, an local government officer called Kamoles and sent him to Prof. Dr. Ruhal Haque at the Nalta Hospital.
Back on His Feet
Nalta Hospital is the home of a Physical Rehabilitation Center established by the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation in 2002. The center provides both prosthetic and orthotic care to amputees and others with limb deformities. At Nalta, local prosthetists fabricate and fit custom-made, lightweight prostheses to amputees like Kamoles. Materials and components are partially made in Bangladesh and partially imported from POF workshops in Vietnam. To achieve long-term stability, POF helps center staff identify local suppliers and encourages local component manufacturing.
Says Kamoles, “When I met with [Dr. Haque] and explained my situation, he advised me to have a prosthesis from Nalta Hospital free of charge.” In April 2008, Kamoles received his custom-made prosthesis.
The prosthesis had changed his life. "An accident not only makes a man disabled, it destroys you mentally, economically and socially,” Kamoles says. Today I am [no longer] mentally, economically and socially disabled. My family depends on the income from my grocery shop. I am grateful that Prof. Ruhal Haque and Nalta Prosthetic Center made me a prosthesis so I could return to a normal life. I am running a small grocery shop with my fitted prosthesis. I can walk without any support and this is a great satisfaction for me.”
Today, Kamoles is truly back on his feet again.
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