Pramod Karan Sethi (28 November 1927 – 6 January 2008) was an Indian

orthopaedic Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

surgeon. With Ram Chandra Sharma, he co-invented the "

Jaipur foot The Jaipur foot, also known as the Jaipur leg, is a rubber-based prosthetic leg for people with below-knee amputations. Although inferior in many ways to the composite carbon fibre variants, its variable applicability and cost efficiency make ...

", an inexpensive and flexible

artificial limb In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

, in 1969. He was awarded the

Magsaysay Award The Ramon Magsaysay Award ( Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic ideali ...

for Community Leadership in 1981 and the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

by the Government of India in 1981.

Personal life and career

Sethi was born at

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

(then Banaras), where his father Nihal Karan Sethi, himself a renowned scientist, was a physics professor at

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

.Singhal D, Nundy S. (2004) No mean feet. ''BMJ'' 328: 789
(accessed 28 January 2008) Sethi trained as a general surgeon at

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

under G. N. Vyas. In 1958, he specialised in orthopaedics, when the

Sawai Man Singh Hospital Sawai Man Singh Hospital is the major hospital of Jaipur and Rajasthan state of India. This government hospital is staffed with 1500 doctors and 4000 nurses with 6251 beds in 43 wards and daily more than 10000 OPD.In fact it surpassed AIIMS Delh ...

in Jaipur where he worked needed an orthopaedics department because of a

Medical Council of India The Medical Council of India (MCI) was a statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India until its dissolution on 25 September 2020 when it was replaced by National Medical Commission. The Council grante ...

inspection. He later cited his lack of qualifications in orthopaedics as an advantage in developing the Jaipur foot. Much of his practice was in physiotherapy, including the rehabilitation of

amputees Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indivi ...

.Oransky I. (2008) Obituary: Pramod Karan Sethi. ''Lancet'' 371: 298 He retired in 1981.McGirk T. (1997) The $28 Foot. ''Time'' (Heroes of Medicine Special Issue)
(accessed 28 January 2008) He was the founder of MVSS. He was married to Sulochana, and the couple had a son and three daughters. Sethi died of cardiac arrest in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Jaipur foot

The Jaipur foot is made of rubber and wood and is probably the lowest cost prosthetic limb available in the world. The

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

Committee has used it extensively in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and other places to help amputees. Several injured soldiers in the

Kargil war The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...

were benefited due to the Jaipur foot. Sethi was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for helping a large number of amputees in obtaining mobility again. The Indian dancer and actor

Sudha Chandran Sudha Chandran (born 27 September 1965) is an Indian Bharatanatyam dancer and actress who appears in Indian television and films. In 1981, she hurt her leg in a road accident near Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu while coming back from Madras with h ...

was one of his patients. Ram Chandra Sharma, an illiterate craftsman, is the co-inventor of the foot. The original idea of the Jaipur foot is supposed to have come to him serendipitously while he was riding a bicycle and had a flat tire.

Awards

Sethi was awarded the

for Community Leadership in 1981,The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership: Citation for Pramod Karan Sethi
(accessed 28 January 2008) the

by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1981 and he also won a major Rotary International award. He was elected a fellow of the British

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

References

External links

''Time Magazine'' article on PK Sethi and Jaipur Foot

* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/world/asia/08seti.html?ref=health New York Times: P. K. Sethi, Inventor of the Low-Tech Limb, Is Dead at 80
News item about Dr. Sethi's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sethi, P.K. 1927 births 2008 deaths Rajasthani people Scientists from Varanasi Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Indian orthopedic surgeons 20th-century Indian medical doctors Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century surgeons People from Varanasi