Mr. Harish Jagtani, an Indian-origin business magnate and philanthropist from Jaipur who is based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has set up ‘Jaipur Foot’ a permanent rehabilitation centre to provide prosthetic limbs to physically challenged people in that country. Mr. Harish Jagtani runs businesses in cargo, healthcare and real estate, among others, in the DRC.

Mr. Harish Jagtani, after witnessing the frightfully poor state of healthcare in Congo, decided to take up the initiative of improving the healthcare sector in that country. He then formed HJ Foundations, a charitable, non-profit organization funded by the HJ Group of Companies.

The Harish Jagtani Foundation’s contributions during the pandemic are incalculable and beyond words of appreciation. In no small measure, Harish Jagtani, the foundation’s chief visionary, has been praised all across the globe for his noble work.

Mr. Harish Jagtani and his charitable organization, HJ Foundation, along with the original makers of prosthetic limbs—Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS)—joined hands to set up the rehabilitation centre in Kinshasa, capital of Congo, in October 2022. The joint venture included a technical team of four members from BMVSS that helped in the setting up of a permanent centre at HJ Hospital in Kinshasa. ‘Jaipur Foot’ is also known as ‘Jaipur Leg’. These rubber-based prosthetic legs are extremely useful for physically challenged individuals and people with amputated limbs. These artificial limbs were designed and developed by Ram Chandra Sharma and Orthopaedic surgeon Dr PK Sethi in 1968. HJ Foundation has set up a dedicated camp to create and fit 575 prosthetic limbs for persons who have been disabled for various reasons.

This camp was free of charge, and persons who have lost limbs were given new limbs and trained on using their new limbs so that they can resume their normal lives, with their faces eloquent with happiness. For the 575 persons who benefited from the campaign, this camp proved to be a life-changing experience. Keeping in mind the dire state of the underprivileged population, all the people who visited their camp were also provided with meals and money for their commutation by the Harish Jagtani foundation. Hard work and consistency pay off and this foundation is the flag bearer of the same. It is the grit and determination of the people of the foundation, which has helped them transform lives and build hope for the people of Congo.

Mr. Harish Jagtani’s charitable foundation has been holding free camps for many years for distributing prosthetic limbs to war victims and people who are physically challenged. The success of the camps inspired Mr. Harish Jagtani to collaborate with BMVSS and build the permanent rehabilitation centre in the capital city of DRC.

People who received the artificial limbs were also given training so that they could learn how to use them easily and quickly return to a normal life once again. The centre has been running very successfully ever since it opened last year. The centre has offered new life to innumerable people.

The non-profit arm of the HJ Group runs several free healthcare programs, including dialysis and malaria camps, among many others. Mr. Harish Jagtani also assisted in building health centres and refurbish government clinics. He has also given medical equipment to build a Covid Care Centre with 200 beds for the government.