ALTSO IN INDIA
Paraplegia Hospital, Ahmedabad
ALTSO's first program was started in India, at Paraplegia Hospital in Ahmedabad in February, 2003. Since then, we have registered and evaluated more than 500 children from 28 districts in Gujarat State. More than 150 children have been fitted for prostheses and undergone physical therapy to help them get used to their new arms and legs. ALTSO has also provided hundreds of braces for the correction of bi-lateral and unilateral clubfoot conditions and has supported nearly 100 corrective orthopedic surgeries.
In 2005, also in Ahmedabad, the  Shraddha Foundation was launched to help support ALTSO's mission and build on our collaboration with Paraplegia Hospital. Considering the great distances that families must travel to reach the capital, Shraddha decided to invest in a bus with an on-board orthopedic workshop. This clinic on wheels takes the Shraddha team's professionals on periodic visits to the remote parts of Gujarat and surrounding states, where children can be evaluated and fitted with prostheses made on the spot.
Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust, Delhi
In Delhi, we have partnered with the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust, an organization that has offered education, training and medical care for the disabled since 1981. It favors the integration and inclusion of the handicapped, and among its projects is a school where children with and without disability study together.
Rehabilitation Centers For Children (RCFC), Kolkata
Housed in three buildings in a verdant campus on the outskirts of South Kolkata,  RCFC has, since 1973, steadily furthered its mission of aiding children with disabilities so they can lead purposeful lives. Volunteer orthopedic surgeons from city hospitals evaluate children in the hospital block, and those assigned to surgery are cared for in the residential block until they are well enough to go home - sometimes for well over 6 months. While in residence, the children are well cared for, given nutritious meals, and engaged in academic activities and vocational training to build their skills.
A Leg To Stand On is providing several hundred children with prosthetic devices custom made in the RCFC lab by skilled prosthetists who work with physiotherapists, doctors, and the children's families to fit and train each child with the best possible solution for his or her condition. RCFC also holds camps in the interior areas surrounding Kolkata from a base in Bolpur village 130 miles from Kolkata. Young rural children from across state lines are brought to RCFC for treatment. The organization has won state awards for its work with disabled children and has been cited as a resource center to guide and train others in the field.
Mukti, Chennai
The children who come to Mukti are usually afflicted with cerebral palsy or polio.  Mukti's professional staff has fashioned a light weight caliper for these children to improve mobility. A well known regional resource for people with disabilities, Mukti has 2 locations: Chennai and Pondicherry, from where they help scores of people daily with free assistance to deal with their disabilities. They also employ several former patients to run their for-profit printing press and orthotics workshop.
Mukti is also supported by the sale of paintings donated by contemporary Indian artists to an art gallery started by Mukti's founder, Meena Dadha.
With our assistance, Mukti is providing custom made light weight calipers to several hundred children who visit their free center in Chennai.
* International Disability & Development Consortium, 1997
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