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CONCEPT PAPER
Title of the Project:
Establishment of workshop for Manufacturing of Wheelchairs & Assistive
Devices
Sponsoring Agency:
World Health Organization
Executive Agency:
Directorate General of Special Education
Description with justification:
Historically wheelchair inscriptions were found on a stone slate in China and on Greek
vases both dated back to 6th
century BC. Later on invention of Bicycle, wheel barrows
and trolleys to transport heavy material, paved way for primitive wheel chairs, earlier
designs were crude but constant improvement in manufacturing and designing specially
after two great wars, mass production of wheelchair started in western countries, China
and Japan.
Today’s computer age has made it possible for experts to design wheelchair according
to need, size and activities of an individual may it be academic use or its use in various
sports.
Wheelchair is not only an assistive device but it can be some, personal area, property,
living room, office, computer table, gaming device, sports ally or a whole atmosphere for
a persons with disability using wheelchair.
Pakistan is striving hard to implement UN-Charters & Disability Conventions signed by it,
to make PWDs more socially active in accessible environs mandatory that we should
start manufacturing standard, qualitative and need based assistive devices, wheel chair
is most important device for physically handicapped children and adults who can
use/order to manufacture wheel chairs designed as per their requirements.
The object of a wheelchair is to permit reliable, easy, decent and relatively independent
movement of a person with impaired locomotion ability in an accessible physical
environment.
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There is a wide cross-section of people using wheelchairs which can easily be
categorized into three. First among them are the people with disabilities (PWDs) who
have obvious movement challenges. The second category of wheelchairs users is the
elderly i.e. Persons above 60 years of age. The third category needing wheelchairs are
the temporarily users, who use them because they require faster movement beyond their
normal ability, as a result of injury, surgery or sudden immobilization of some sort.
The National Policy for Disabled Persons 2002 has revealed that:-
Assistive technology plays an important role in rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
By using this modern technology these persons can perform in a better way. Special
attention will be give to the development of assistive technology with the involvement of
relevant organizations, particularly in the area of orthotics and prosthetics for person with
disabilities.
Moreover, UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, emphasized in
Article 26/3-Habilitation and rehabilitation States Parties shall promote the availability,
knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with
disabilities, as they relate to habilitation and rehabilitation.
Reliable data on the number of people in Pakistan, who require wheelchairs, is not
available. However, taking the world estimate of 6% of every population in the
developing world means that Pakistan may require as many as 1080,000 wheel chairs to
adequately meet the demand. Of these, a handful is produced in isolated workshop
within the country, while another handful comes from donations from abroad.
The Manufacturing and usage of Wheel chairs in Pakistan is not based on personal
need based, there is no public manufacturing facility of standard wheel chaors in
Pakistan, the available wheel chairs are donated by few friendly countries in bulk shape ,
most of them are not manufactured on the basis of assessment and personal need,
material used is not up to mark, hence small children get further deformities , rather than
correction of those already exists. The available wheel chairs are just supportive in terms
of sitting and limited mobility, not assistive devices.
A wheelchair should be fabricated on principles that contribute to its definition as an
assistive device i.e. it should be:
i. Based on individual assessment to fit user’s impairment and needs to
support his Educational, sports, mobility and daily life activities.
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ii. Strong enough to sustain the user but light enough to facilitate
independent manipulation.
iii. Durable and technically well designed to avoid inflicting secondary
disabilities to the user.
iv. Smart and elegant in its design to give esteem to the user, easy to
maintain and or repair.
v. Portable to be used in public transport.
vi. Practical and functional permitting the individual to be as active as
possible, promoting social independence and adopted to individual’s daily
living requirements.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES:
The overall aim of the project is to execute local production of wheel-chairs, with
affordability, availability and effective usage in Pakistan. The project is therefore
designed to achieve the following objectives:-
i. To establish production of wheelchairs in Pakistan.
ii. To analyze the challenges and needs of wheelchair users.
iii. To monitor the marker range of and demand for wheel chairs from
workshops.
iv. To develop system for wheelchair maintenance and repair.
v. To ensures the appropriateness of designs in relation to the
environment and the basic needs of wheelchair users.
vi. To introduce the consistency between the users and the
producers concept of quality wheelchair.
vii. Improve distribution supplies of assistive devices on payment to
PWDs through PBM, Health Department and International
Agencies in the Islamabad capital territory for first five years.
viii. Conduct Research and Development (R&D) on issues related to
assistive aids in collaboration with International organization and
Universalities.
PLANS OF THE PROJECT:
One coordinator having degree in rehabilitation sciences (orthotics
and prosthetic or Physical Therapy) may be deputed in DGSE to
look after the services/activities of proposed CMWA.
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Project steering team will be constituted to operate the CMWA.
World Health Organization will provide all technical/financial
support for this project along-with necessary equipment. However
new PC-1 will also be developed.
DGSE will provide space/building to initiate this project.
Project will expand training opportunities for multi-disciplinary
rehabilitation team locally and abroad.
Running expenditures/cost will be run through income received
from the project.
CONCLUSION:
The ultimate aim of the project is to provide and enhance on rehabilitation
for PWDs. Especially the population of the Persons with Disabilities living in Islamabad
urban and rural areas shall able to move towards inclusion in the process of
rehabilitation. Rehabilitation needs can be enhanced in less privileged areas. Initially this
will be a pilot project which will be replicated in other potential parts of the country.
However, the production will be started on following principles:-
i. Wheelchair should be taken as a part of the human rights of the users
and a campaign to this effect should be launched at all levels.
ii. A wheelchair should bear some attributes that contribute to the definition
as an assistive or orthopedic device.
iii. In short run however, Government and the other stakeholders should
adopt the International guidelines manual to maintain standards.
iv. There is need for the statistic department to conduct a detailed survey on
mobility assistive devices using discrete instruments of data capture.
v. A lot of sensitization work is required to be done about wheelchairs in the
community.
vi. Research should continue ton wheelchairs with an objective e to make
wheelchair use easier, comfortable, safe and more independent.
