{{Short description|Indian surgeon (1927–2008)}} {{more footnotes needed|date=January 2008}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Pramod Karan Sethi | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date |df=yes|1927|11|28}} | birth_place = [[Varanasi]], India | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2008|01|06|1927|11|28}} | death_place = [[Jaipur]] | other_names = P. K. Sethi | known_for = [[Jaipur foot]] | occupation = [[orthopaedic surgeon]], inventor }}
'''Pramod Karan Sethi''' (28 November 1927 – 6 January 2008) was an Indian [[orthopaedic]] surgeon. With Ram Chandra Sharma, he co-invented the "[[Jaipur foot]]", an inexpensive and flexible [[artificial limb]], in 1969.
He was awarded the [[Magsaysay Award]] for Community Leadership in 1981 and the [[Padma Shri]] by the Government of India in 1981.
== Personal life and career == Sethi was born at [[Varanasi]] (then Banaras),<ref name="Lancet_obit" /> where his father Nihal Karan Sethi, himself a renowned scientist, was a physics professor at [[Banaras Hindu University]].<ref name=BMJ>[http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7443/789 Singhal D, Nundy S. (2004) No mean feet. ''BMJ'' 328: 789] (accessed 28 January 2008)</ref> Sethi trained as a general surgeon at [[Agra]] under G. N. Vyas. In 1958, he specialised in orthopaedics, when the [[Sawai Man Singh Hospital]] in Jaipur where he worked needed an orthopaedics department because of a [[Medical Council of India]] inspection.<ref name=BMJ /> He later cited his lack of qualifications in orthopaedics as an advantage in developing the Jaipur foot.<ref name=BMJ /> Much of his practice was in [[physiotherapy]], including the rehabilitation of [[amputation|amputees]].<ref name="Lancet_obit">Oransky I. (2008) Obituary: Pramod Karan Sethi. ''Lancet'' 371: 298</ref> He retired in 1981.<ref name=Time>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000520133029/http://www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html McGirk T. (1997) The $28 Foot. ''Time'' (Heroes of Medicine Special Issue)] (accessed 28 January 2008)</ref> He was the founder of MVSS.<ref>{{Cite news|title='Jaipur foot' inventor died a bitter man {{!}} India News – Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jaipur-foot-inventor-died-a-bitter-man/articleshow/2681794.cms|access-date=2021-11-02|website=The Times of India|date=8 January 2008|language=en}}</ref>
He was married to Sulochana, and the couple had a son and three daughters. Sethi died of cardiac arrest in [[Jaipur]], India.<ref name="Lancet_obit" />
== Jaipur foot == The Jaipur foot is made of rubber and wood and is probably the lowest cost prosthetic limb available in the world. The [[International Red Cross]] Committee has used it extensively in Afghanistan and other places to help amputees. Several injured soldiers in the [[Kargil war]] were benefited due to the Jaipur foot. Sethi was recognized by the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] for helping a large number of amputees in obtaining mobility again. The Indian dancer and actor [[Sudha Chandran]] was one of his patients.
'''Ram Chandra Sharma''', an illiterate craftsman, is the co-inventor of the foot. The original idea of the Jaipur foot is supposed to have come to him serendipitously while he was riding a bicycle and had a flat tire.<ref name=Time/>
== Awards == Sethi was awarded the [[Magsaysay Award]] for Community Leadership in 1981,<ref name="Ramon_Magsaysay">[http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationSethiPra.htm The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership: Citation for Pramod Karan Sethi] (accessed 28 January 2008)</ref> the [[Padma Shri]] by the [[Government of India]] in 1981<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009)|publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|archivedate=10 May 2013}}</ref> and he also won a major [[Rotary International]] award.<ref name="Lancet_obit" /> He was elected a fellow of the British [[Royal College of Surgeons of England|Royal College of Surgeons]].<ref name=Time/>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000520133029/http://www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html ''Time Magazine'' article on PK Sethi and Jaipur Foot] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090805135119/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographySethiPra.htm The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership: Biography of Pramod Karan Sethi] * [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/world/asia/08seti.html?ref=health New York Times: P. K. Sethi, Inventor of the Low-Tech Limb, Is Dead at 80 ] * [http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/06foot.htm News item about Dr. Sethi's death]
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Medicine}} {{RMA winners of India}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sethi, P.K.}} [[Category:1927 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:Rajasthani people]] [[Category:Scientists from Varanasi]] [[Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners]] [[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England]] [[Category:Indian orthopaedic surgeons]] [[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh]] [[Category:20th-century Indian surgeons]] [[Category:People from Varanasi]]