Sanjay Kumar, Founder, Hope Charitable Trust (Photo courtesy Hope Charitable Trust)
In the West we often think that the “bells and whistles” of advanced medical technology represents the hallmark of effective healing. And yet sometimes simpler remedies can be equally effective. In India, a tiny team operating on a shoe-string budget is making a tremendous difference in the lives of children left paralyzed by the polio virus.
In a corner of Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, a small group led by 30-year-old physiotherapist and medical student Sanjay Kumar is helping children afflicted with post-polio paralysis walk again, literally lifting them up off the ground, and in the process providing new hope for patients and their families.
Virtually eradicated in the West, polio is still an issue in portions of South Asia and Africa. World Health Organization-led vaccination programs have contributed to a significant decline in new outbreaks of the disease in India. However, those afflicted before the latest vaccination program began, primarily children, are still dealing with the effects of the disease.
Sanjay, who is in his final 18 months of medical school, started working with polio patients in 2000, virtually from the time he started his physiotherapy practice. He launched Hope Charitable Trust (HCT) in 2005 to help the meet the needs of this population. Staffed with four volunteers, including Sanjay, the HCT team treats polio patients free of charge.
Sanjay’s low-tech treatment to help paralyzed polio survivors regain mobility involves the creation of a plaster cast for the affected limb. Each week, the child returns to the makeshift clinic where the plaster is cut and then stretched via the placement of wooden wedges that help straighten contracted muscles. According to Sanjay, this process takes four to eight weeks after which they provide a crutch to help support the limb while the patient develops the necessary muscle strength to walk on their own.
The team saves money wherever they can in order to maximize the number of patients they can treat. To that end they build their own calipers, and craft their own crutches and leg braces to keep costs as low as possible. As a result of their efforts, the cost for treatment runs between 1,400-1,600 rupees ($30-$35) per patient. The major expense for the Hope Charitable Trust team is for fuel required to travel back and forth to the villages they serve.
Sanjay’s operations are headquartered in Bodh Gaya, the site where Buddha attained enlightenment and now a major Buddhist pilgrimage destination. From there, Sanjay and his team travel up to several hours each way by motorbike to surrounding villages to set up makeshift clinics where they treat those in need of medical care.
American David Leskowitz met Sanjay in 2006 during a visit to Bodh Gaya and learned about the scope of Sanjay’s work, and the impact he was having. Moved by the work Sanjay was doing, David raised funds to support several months of work for Sanjay and his team upon his return to the U.S.
Deepak, a Hope Charitable Trust patient, gets his cast removed (Photo courtesy Hope Charitable Trust)
During his next visit to Bodh Gaya the following year, David saw, first-hand, the impact of the funds he and his family raised when he witnessed two children were having their casts permanently removed, and saw them walk for the first time following their bout with polio.
“It was really emotional for me,” says David, “because that was a patient whose treatment was sponsored by myself and my family, you know, so that was the direct hit, just seeing that he was walking.”
What David found most remarkable was that “very small amounts [of money] really make a big difference” in the lives of Sanjay’s patients. “There’s no technology really involved. There’s just plaster casts and wedges and saws. You know, that’s the entirety of the physical therapy.”
Deepak, one of the patients whose treatment David and his family helped fund, can be seen taking his first steps in the video below.
The difference this treatment makes in the lives of Sanjay’s patients is remarkable. “It’s lifting them out of poverty, and also lifting them out of filth,” says David. As a result of their paralysis, “they have to drag themselves around through these dirty, filthy roads” due to the lack of adequate mobility aids.
According to Sanjay, the team has worked in 17 villages to-date, serving roughly 200 polio patients. In an interview conducted via email, Sanjay said he is especially interested in helping to provide a better life for polio survivors. “This make[s] me happy to help other beings,” he said. His vision is to establish “a rehabilitation center for those people who are disable[d]. So I am really dreaming to build a hospital for poor and needy people, where they can come to get help regularly. I want to specialize in neurological physiotherapy where I can help most cases caused by neurological dysfunctions.”
David, who has seen first-hand the impact funding can have, is a firm believer in Sanjay and the Hope Charitable Trust mission. “Basically, I’m a fan [of the work they are doing.] I really am a fan, and I have deep love for Sanjay and his purity of intention,” says David. He is “helping people who have no other option for being helped. It makes a profound difference.” He continues, “for $1 a day, for one month, you could let someone who has no prospect of walking take their first steps – it’s as simple as that. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
To find out more about Hope Charitable Trust, visit their blog.
To find out how you can donate, contact David Leskowitz at humhumhum(at)gmail(dot)com.
[...] physiotherapist Sanjay Kumar has developed a low-cost treatment for helping paralyzed survivors regain their mobility; the [...]