AFMS to transform Artificial Limb Centre into international rehab hub for amputees: DGAFMS

Pune: The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) plans to transform Pune’s historic Artificial Limb Centre (ALC) into an international centre of excellence for rehabilitation, with a focus on indigenous prosthetics, research collaborations and disability inclusion, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services Vice Admiral Arti Sarin said on Monday.Speaking at the 82nd raising day celebrations of the ALC, Sarin said the institution would play a larger national and global role in rehabilitation as India pushes for greater inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities.She also inaugurated a “Holistic mobility clinic” on the ALC campus aimed at streamlining rehabilitation and patient care.“Even if a limb is lost, hope will not be lost. We will stand by them, from the first dressing to the first step,” Sarin said while outlining the future roadmap for the centre.Beyond serving military personnel, ALC has expanded its outreach internationally.Sarin said, “The centre had trained paramedics from the Myanmar and Nepal armies and conducted a limb-fitment camp in Myanmar last year where 50 patients received prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation training within two weeks. This year, the centre plans to fit 100 artificial limbs during another outreach mission there.”Highlighting the growing global challenge of limb loss caused by wars, trauma and diabetes, Sarin said the role of rehabilitation centres had become critical.“For the Armed Forces, this challenge is even more acute, as thousands of our brave young soldiers have sacrificed their limbs defending the nation and hundreds sustain non-combat injuries,” she said.Established in 1944 and modelled after the Queen Mary’s hospital in Roehampton, London, the ALC was the first organised limb rehabilitation centre in the South East Asia.Over eight decades, it has emerged as a premier institution for amputee rehabilitation for battle casualties, veterans and civilians.She said AFMS had a dual responsibility — to return wounded soldiers to duty at the earliest and to ensure they continue to lead dignified and productive lives.Sarin said ALC had consistently pioneered rehabilitation technologies in India. The centre was among the first in the country to use indigenous carbon-fibre prosthetic components and had fitted India’s first running blade prosthesis to retired Major DP Singh, widely known as India’s first blade runner.She also cited the achievements of battle casualty amputee Lt Col Avnish Bajpai, who completed a full marathon using running prosthetics and later took up diving and skydiving.She said the centre could play a key role in supporting the government’s disability inclusion agenda under the Union Budget 2026-27 by helping establish modern rehabilitation centres across the country through military-civil cooperation.Sarin added that the future roadmap for ALC included structured training programmes, innovation hubs linked with academia and industry, national rehabilitation registries and development of affordable high-performance indigenous prosthetics.Box: Holistic mobility clinic -The new facility is going to be a game changer for the patients as they will get all medical services under one roof in a holistic manner, Brigadier CN Satish, the commandant of the ALC told TOI.The centre was is now equipped with advanced CADCAM facilities, a state-of-the-art gait and balance lab, an upper limb training lab and newly introduced 3D printing technology.“Earlier all these services used to be provided at different sections on the campus. It is a challenging thing for a patient. Therefore we have created a proper facility where everything will be at one place. It makes a difference because these patients will be able to interact with each other to realise others are also going through the same physically challenged,” he added.The commandant said that the centre has provided various types of limbs nearly 80,000 patients including civil population since it’s inception in 1944.