# P. K. Sethi

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Indian surgeon (1927–2008)

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Pramod Karan Sethi Born (1927-11-28)28 November 1927 Varanasi, India Died 6 January 2008(2008-01-06) (aged 80) Jaipur Other name P. K. Sethi Occupations orthopaedic surgeon, inventor Known for Jaipur foot

**Pramod Karan Sethi** (28 November 1927 – 6 January 2008) was an Indian [orthopaedic](/source/Orthopaedic) surgeon. With Ram Chandra Sharma, he co-invented the "[Jaipur foot](/source/Jaipur_foot)", an inexpensive and flexible [artificial limb](/source/Artificial_limb), in 1969.

He was awarded the [Magsaysay Award](/source/Magsaysay_Award) for Community Leadership in 1981 and the [Padma Shri](/source/Padma_Shri) by the Government of India in 1981.

## Personal life and career

Sethi was born at [Varanasi](/source/Varanasi) (then Banaras),[1] where his father Nihal Karan Sethi, himself a renowned scientist, was a physics professor at [Banaras Hindu University](/source/Banaras_Hindu_University).[2] Sethi trained as a general surgeon at [Agra](/source/Agra) under G. N. Vyas. In 1958, he specialised in orthopaedics, when the [Sawai Man Singh Hospital](/source/Sawai_Man_Singh_Hospital) in Jaipur where he worked needed an orthopaedics department because of a [Medical Council of India](/source/Medical_Council_of_India) inspection.[2] He later cited his lack of qualifications in orthopaedics as an advantage in developing the Jaipur foot.[2] Much of his practice was in [physiotherapy](/source/Physiotherapy), including the rehabilitation of [amputees](/source/Amputation).[1] He retired in 1981.[3] He was the founder of MVSS.[4]

He was married to Sulochana, and the couple had a son and three daughters. Sethi died of cardiac arrest in [Jaipur](/source/Jaipur), India.[1]

## 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](/source/International_Red_Cross) Committee has used it extensively in Afghanistan and other places to help amputees. Several injured soldiers in the [Kargil war](/source/Kargil_war) were benefited due to the Jaipur foot. Sethi was recognized by the [Guinness Book of World Records](/source/Guinness_Book_of_World_Records) for helping a large number of amputees in obtaining mobility again. The Indian dancer and actor [Sudha Chandran](/source/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.[3]

## Awards

Sethi was awarded the [Magsaysay Award](/source/Magsaysay_Award) for Community Leadership in 1981,[5] the [Padma Shri](/source/Padma_Shri) by the [Government of India](/source/Government_of_India) in 1981[6] and he also won a major [Rotary International](/source/Rotary_International) award.[1] He was elected a fellow of the British [Royal College of Surgeons](/source/Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_England).[3]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Lancet_obit_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Lancet_obit_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Lancet_obit_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Lancet_obit_1-3) Oransky I. (2008) Obituary: Pramod Karan Sethi. *Lancet* 371: 298

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BMJ_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BMJ_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-BMJ_2-2) [Singhal D, Nundy S. (2004) No mean feet. *BMJ* 328: 789](http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7443/789) (accessed 28 January 2008)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Time_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Time_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Time_3-2) [McGirk T. (1997) The $28 Foot. *Time* (Heroes of Medicine Special Issue)](https://web.archive.org/web/20000520133029/http://www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html) (accessed 28 January 2008)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["'Jaipur foot' inventor died a bitter man | India News – Times of India"](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jaipur-foot-inventor-died-a-bitter-man/articleshow/2681794.cms). *The Times of India*. 8 January 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Ramon_Magsaysay_5-0)** [The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership: Citation for Pramod Karan Sethi](http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationSethiPra.htm) (accessed 28 January 2008)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf) (PDF). [Ministry of Home Affairs](/source/Ministry_of_Home_Affairs_(India)). Archived from [the original](http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf) (PDF) on 10 May 2013.

## External links

- [*Time Magazine* article on PK Sethi and Jaipur Foot](https://web.archive.org/web/20000520133029/http://www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html)

- [The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership: Biography of Pramod Karan Sethi](https://web.archive.org/web/20090805135119/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographySethiPra.htm)

- [New York Times: P. K. Sethi, Inventor of the Low-Tech Limb, Is Dead at 80](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/world/asia/08seti.html?ref=health)

- [News item about Dr. Sethi's death](http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/06foot.htm)

v t e Recipients of Padma Shri in Medicine 1950s Bir Bhan Bhatia (1954) V. R. Khanolkar (1954) Perakath Verghese Benjamin (1955) Mahesh Prasad Mehray (1955) Murugappa Channaveerappa Modi (1956) Chintaman Govind Pandit (1956) Isaac Santra (1956) Khushdeva Singh (1957) 1960s Hilda Mary Lazarus (1961) George William Gregory Bird (1963) Hakim Abdul Hameed (1965) Ernest Joachim Joseph Borges (1966) Robert Brocklesby Davis (1966) Jerusha Jhirad (1966) Edith Helen Paull (1967) Amar Prasad Ray (1967) Natteri Veeraraghavan (1967) B. K. Anand (1969) Ram Kumar Caroli (1969) Vulimiri Ramalingaswami (1969) Krishna Gopal Saxena (1969) 1970s Ajit Kumar Basu (1970) Coluthur Gopalan (1970) Perugu Siva Reddy (1970) B. N. B. Rao (1971) Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi (1971) Dorothy Chacko (1972) Thayil John Cherian (1972) Balasubramaniam Ramamurthi (1972) Balu Sankaran (1972) K. N. Udupa (1972) R. Marthanda Varma (1972) Mary Verghese (1972) K. T. Dholakia (1973) M. K. Krishna Menon (1973) J. M. Pahwa (1973) Prakash Narain Tandon (1973) Jamshed Vazifdar (1973) Govindappa Venkataswamy (1973) Mani Kumar Chetri (1974) Nagarur Gopinath (1974) L. S. N. Prasad (1974) Kadiyala Ramachandra (1974) Reuben David (1975) Stanley John (1975) Mary Poonen Lukose (1975) Kadiyala Ramachandra (1975) Durga Deulkar (1976) Lucy Oommen (1977) 1980s Jasbir Singh Bajaj (1981) P. K. Sethi (1981) K. Vardachari Thiruvengadam (1981) C. P. Thakur (1982) Raj Vir Singh Yadav (1982) S. S. Badrinath (1983) Raj Baveja (1983) Shishupal Ram (1983) Purshottam Lal Wahi (1983) B. K. Goyal (1984) Vera Hingorani (1984) K. P. Mathur (1984) N. Balakrishnan Nair (1984) Hariharan Srinivasan (1984) Ramniklal K. Gandhi (1985) Samiran Nundy (1985) Usha Sharma (1985) M. S. Valiathan (1985) Gopal Krishna Vishwakarma (1985) Santosh Kumar Kackar (1986) V. Shanta (1986) Prabhu Dayal Nigam (1987) Daljit Singh (1987) Harbans Singh Wasir (1987) 1990s N. H. Antia (1990) M. G. Deo (1990) P. K. Rajagopalan (1990) M. M. S. Ahuja (1991) Sneh Bhargava (1991) K. M. Cherian (doctor) (1991) G. N. Malviya (1991) Shiela Mehra (1991) S. C. Munshi (1991) M. N. Passey (1991) Jai Pal Singh (1991) Naresh Trehan (1991) Rathin Datta (1992) Khalid Hameed, Baron Hameed (1992) Anil Kohli (1992) Ramesh Kumar (nephrologist) (1992) Usha Kehar Luthra (1992) J. S. Mahashabde (1992) P. V. A. Mohandas (1992) E. T. Neelakandan Mooss (1992) Kameshwar Prasad (1992) Luis Jose De Souza (1992) Amrit Tewari (1992) G. S. Venkataraman (1992) Ranjit Roy Chaudhury (1998) K. A. Abraham (1999) Raj Bothra (1999) Balendu Prakash (1999) Devendra Triguna (1999) P. K. Warrier (1999) 2000s Mahendra Bhandari (2000) Vipin Buckshey (2000) Vaidya Suresh Chaturvedi (2000) Kirpal Singh Chugh (2000) P. K. Dave (2000) Mathew Kalarickal (2000) Kakarla Subba Rao (2000) G. S. Sainani (2000) Immaneni Sathyamurthy (2000) Jyoti Bhushan Banerji (2001) Alaka Deshpande (2001) Sharad Kumar Dixit (2001) Chittoor Mohammed Habeebullah (2001) M. Krishnan Nair (2001) Dasari Prasada Rao (2001) Laishram Nabakishore Singh (2001) Bhupathiraju Somaraju (2001) Suresh H. Advani (2002) Pradeep Chowbey (2002) Vijay Kumar Dada (2002) Prakash Nanalal Kothari (2002) Harsh Mahajan (2002) Vikram Marwah (2002) Atluri Sriman Narayana (2002) Kamaljit Singh Paul (2002) Karimpat Mathangi Ramakrishnan (2002) Gullapalli Nageswara Rao (2002) D. Nageshwar Reddy (2002) Prahlad Kumar Sethi (2002) J. S. Guleria (2003) Narayana Panicker Kochupillai (2003) Rajagopalan Krishnan (2003) Ashok Seth (2003) Vijay Prakash (2003) Sharad Moreshwar Hardikar (2004) S. C. Manchanda (2004) Ashwin Balachand Mehta (2004) S. K. Sama (2004) Rajan Saxena (2004) Devi Shetty (2004) Gopal Prasad Sinha (2004) G. Bakthavathsalam (2005) Jitendra Mohan Hans (2005) P. N. V. Kurup (2005) Veer Singh Mehta (2005) Lavu Narendranath (2005) Cyrus S. Poonawalla (2005) Sanjeev Bagai (2006) Mohan Kameswaran (2006) Upendra Kaul (2006) Tsering Landol (2006) Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (2006) Harbhajan Singh Rissam (2006) Kamal Kumar Sethi (2006) Tehemton Erach Udwadia (2006) Harpinder Singh Chawla (2007) Narmada Prasad Gupta (2007) Ashok Kumar Hemal (2007) Atul Kumar (ophthalmologist) (2007) C. N. Manjunath (2007) Anoop Misra (2007) P. Namperumalsamy (2007) Mayilvahanan Natarajan (2007) K. R. Palaniswamy (2007) Mahipal S. Sachdev (2007) B. Paul Thaliath (2007) Sheo Bhagwan Tibrewal (2007) Mohsin Wali (2007) S. N. Arya (2008) Dinesh K. Bhargava (2008) Tony Fernandez (ophthalmologist) (2008) Rakesh Kumar Jain (2008) Raman Kapur (2008) T. P. Lahane (2008) Keiki R. Mehta (2008) M. C. Pant (2008) Arjunan Rajasekaran (2008) Malvika Sabharwal (2008) Indu Bhushan Sinha (2008) Randhir Sud (2008) C. U. Velmurugendran (2008) Kalyan Banerjee (2009) Balswarup Choubey (2009) Saibaba Goud (2009) Yash Gulati (2009) P. R. Krishna Kumar (2009) Arvind Lal (2009) D. S. Rana (2009) Thanikachalam Sadagopan (2009) Ashok K. Vaid (2009) G. Vijayaraghavan (2009) Shaik Khader Noordeen (2009) 2010s K. K. Aggarwal (2010) Philip Augustine (2010) Anil Kumar Bhalla (2010) Kodaganur S. Gopinath (2010) Laxmi Chand Gupta (2010) Jalakantapuram Ramaswamy Krishnamoorthy (2010) Vikas Mahatme (2010) B. Ramana Rao (2010) Rabindra Narain Singh (2010) Arvinder Singh Soin (2010) Madanur Ahmed Ali (2011) Pukhraj Bafna (2011) Mansoor Hasan (2011) Indira Hinduja (2011) Shyama Prasad Mandal (2011) Jose Chacko Periappuram (2011) A. Marthanda Pillai (2011) Sivapatham Vittal (2011) Nitya Anand (2012) Mukesh Batra (2012) Mahdi Hasan (2012) Jugal Kishore (2012) V. Mohan (2012) J. Hareendran Nair (2012) Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan (2012) Jitendra Kumar Singh (2012) Shrinivas S. Vaishya (2012) Sudarshan K. Aggarwal (2013) Rajendra Achyut Badwe (2013) Krishna Chandra Chunekar (2013) Taraprasad Das (2013) T. V. Devarajan (2013) Saroj Chooramani Gopal (2013) Vishwa Kumar Gupta (2013) Pramod Kumar Julka (2013) Gulshan Rai Khatri (2013) Ganesh Kumar Mani (2013) Amit Prabhakar Maydeo (2013) Sundaram Natarajan (2013) C. Venkata S. Ram (2013) Kiritkumar Mansukhlal Acharya (2014) Subrat Kumar Acharya (2014) Balram Bhargava (2014) Indira Chakravarty (2014) Ramakant Krishnaji Deshpande (2014) Pawan Raj Goyal (2014) Rajesh Kumar Grover (2014) Amod Gupta (2014) Daya Kishore Hazra (2014) Thenumgal Poulose Jacob (2014) Shashank R. Joshi (2014) Hakim Syed Khaleefathullah (2014) Milind Vasant Kirtane (2014) Lalit Kumar (2014) Mohan Mishra (2014) Vamsi Mootha (2014) Siddhartha Mukherjee (2014) Nitish Naik (2014) M. Subhadra Nair (2014) Ashok Panagariya (2014) Narendra Kumar Pandey (2014) Sunil Pradhan (2014) Ashok Rajgopal (2014) Kamini A. Rao (2014) Sarbeswar Sahariah (2014) J. S. Titiyal (2014) Om Prakash Upadhyaya (2014) Mahesh Verma (2014) Manjula Anagani (2015) Yogesh Kumar Chawla (2015) Bimola Kumari (2015) Randeep Guleria (2015) K. P. Haridas (2015) Rajesh Kotecha (2015) Alka Kriplani (2015) Harsh Kumar (2015) Dattatreyudu Nori (2015) Tejas Patel (2015) Raghu Ram Pillarisetti (2015) Narendra Prasad (2015) Saumitra Rawat (2015) Yog Raj Sharma (2015) Nikhil Tandon (2015) Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi (2015) Gopi Chand Mannam (2016) Praveen Chandra (2016) John Ebnezar (2016) Daljeet Singh Gambhir (2016) A. G. K. Gokhale (2016) Murli Manohar Joshi (2016) Ravi Kant (2016) Shiv Narain Kureel (2016) T. K. Lahiri (2016) Anil Kumari Malhotra (2016) Yarlagadda Nayudamma (2016) Sudhir V. Shah (2016) Ram Harsh Singh (2016) M. V. Padma Srivastava (2016) T. S. Chandrasekar (2016) Harkishan Singh (2017) Suniti Solomon (2017) Bhakti Yadav (2017) Abhay and Rani Bang (2018) Yeshi Dhonden (2018) Lakshmikutty (2018) M. R. Rajagopal (2018) Sanduk Ruit (2018) Ilias Ali (2019) Omesh Kumar Bharti (2019) Mammen Chandy (2019) Sudam Kate (2019) Ravindra and Smita Kolhe (2019) Jagat Ram (2019) Ramaswami Venkataswami (2019) 2020s Yogi Aereon (2020) Padma Bandopadhyay (2020) Sushovan Banerjee (2020) Digambar Behera (2020) Leela Joshi (2020) Arunoday Mondal (2020) Shanti Roy (2020) Gurdip Singh (2020) Sandra Desa Souza (2020) Kushal Konwar Sarma (2020) Ravi Kannan R (2020) Krishna Mohan Pathi (2021) Jitendra Nath Pande (2021) Himmatrao Bawaskar (2022) Prokar Dasgupta (2022) Sunkara Venkata Adinarayana Rao (2022) Lata Desai (2022) Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre (2022) Dr Narendra Prasad Misra (Posthumous) (2022) Veeraswamy Seshiah (2022) Bhimsen Singhal (2022) Balaji Tambe (Posthumous) (2022) Kamlakar Tripathi (2022) Munishwar Chandar Dawar (2023) Ratan Chandra Kar (2023) Nalini Parthasarathi (2023) Hanumantha Rao Pasupuleti (2023) Manoranjan Sahu (2023) Gopalsamy Veluchamy (2023) Ishwar Chander Verma (2023) Prema Dhanraj (2024) Radha Krishan Dhiman (2024) Manohar Krishana Dole (2024) Yazdi Italia (2024) Hemchand Manjhi (2024) Chandrashekhar Mahadeorao Meshram (2024) G Nachiyar (2024) Radhe Shyam Pareek (2024) Dayal Mavjibhai Parmar (2024) C. R. Chandrashekar (2024) Ashok Kumar Mahapatra (2025) Budhendra Kumar Jain (2025) Hemant Kumar (2025) Neerja Bhatla (2025) Sheikha Shaikha Ali Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (2025) Soniya Nityanand (2025) Vijayalakshmi Deshamane (2025) Vilas Dangre (2025) Armida Fernandez (2026) Guduru Venkat Rao (2026) H. V. Hande (2026) Kewal Krishan Thakral (2026) Natesan Punniamurthy (2026) Padma Gurmet (2026) Palkonda Vijay Anand Reddy (2026) Prateek Sharma (2026) Punniamurthy Natesan (2026) Rajendra Prasad (2026) Ramachandra Godbole and Suneeta Godbole (2026) Saroj Mandal (2026) Shyam Sundar (2026) Suresh Hanagavadi (2026)

v t e Ramon Magsaysay Award winners of India Amitabha Chowdhury Anshu Gupta Aruna Roy Arun Shourie Arvind Kejriwal Baba Amte Banoo Jehangir Coyaji Bezwada Wilson Bharat Vatwani B. G. Verghese Chandi Prasad Bhatt C. D. Deshmukh Dara Nusserwanji Khurody Deep Joshi Ela Bhatt Gour Kishore Ghosh Harish Hande Jockin Arputham James Michael Lyngdoh Jayaprakash Narayan Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Kiran Bedi Kulandei Francis K. V. Subbanna Lakshmi Chand Jain Laxminarayan Ramdas Mabelle Arole Mahasweta Devi Mahesh Chandra Mehta Manibhai Desai Mandakini Amte Mother Teresa M. S. Subbulakshmi M. S. Swaminathan Nileema Mishra Palagummi Sainath Pandurang Shastri Athavale Prakash Amte P. K. Sethi Rajendra Singh Ravi Shankar Ravish Kumar R. K. Laxman Rajanikant Arole Sanjiv Chaturvedi Satyajit Ray Sombhu Mitra Sandeep Pandey Shantha Sinha Sonam Wangchuk T. M. Krishna T. N. Seshan Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel V. Shanta Verghese Kurien Vinoba Bhave List of Ramon Magsaysay Award winners

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