અમદાવાદ, ૪ નવેમ્બર, ૨૦૨૬: નડિયાદ પાસેના ચકલાસીના ૭ વર્ષીય નેત્ર પટેલને જન્મથી પગનો એક ભાગ નાનો હતો અને ઘૂંટણનું હાડકું ન હતું. અનેક જગ્યાએ પગ કપાવવાની સલાહ મળી, પરંતુ અમદાવાદની ગવર્મેન્ટ સ્પાઇન ઇન્સ્ટિટ્યૂટે પગ કાપ્યા વિના ખાસ કૃત્રિમ પગ ફિટ કર્યો. નેત્ર આજે ચાલે, દોડે અને સ્કૂલે જાય છે. સારવાર સંપૂર્ણ વિનામૂલ્યે થઈ છે.

Doctors at Ahmedabad's Government Spine Institute, the only government centre in Gujarat that provides and teaches prosthetics and orthotics, have fitted a seven-year-old boy with an artificial leg without amputating his own, the Health and Family Welfare Department said on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, ahead of International Orthotics and Prosthetics Day on November 5.

"Amputate first," every hospital said

Netra Patel, son of Bhaumikbhai Patel of Chaklasi near Nadiad, was born with focal limb deficiency: part of one leg was short, and he had no kneecap. His father said they took him to well-known centres in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai and Jamnagar, and every one said an artificial leg could only be fitted after the leg was amputated. The family could not accept that.

A prosthesis without amputation

Dr. Mithilesh Soni, head of the institute's Prosthetics and Orthotics department, and his team assessed Netra closely and found a way to fit a special prosthesis without surgery. Director Dr. Piyush Mittal said Netra can now walk, run, go to school and climb stairs on his own, and has gained remarkable confidence.

Free, and free to refit

  • Privately, such treatment and prosthesis cost about ₹1–1.5 lakh. At the institute it is free.
  • Children outgrow a prosthesis, so it must be resized and maintained. The institute does this free until the child is an adult.
  • Netra's father said the family paid nothing at any stage.

The doctors urged anyone who knows a person with a physical disability or limb deficiency to bring them to the Government Spine Institute in Ahmedabad.

A doctor adjusts the prosthetic leg of the seated boy, face blurred, as another doctor looks on Netra and his family with a doctor outside the Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics Netra walks down a hospital corridor on his prosthetic leg
Netra at the Government Spine Institute (his face is blurred in the official photos). Photo: Gujarat Information Bureau (select a photo to open the original).

Also from Ahmedabad's Civil campus: scissors removed from a 3-year-old's chest and the 260th organ donation.

Source

  • Gujarat Information Bureau, આરોગ્ય અને પરિવાર કલ્યાણ વિભાગ: press release dated 4 November 2026, “સરકારી સ્પાઇન ઇન્સ્ટિટ્યૂટના ડૉક્ટર્સે ૭ વર્ષના નેત્રને પગ કપાવવાની તકલીફમાંથી આપી મુક્તિ” (release ID 55817). Available on GIB's Department Releases page.
  • Photos: Gujarat Information Bureau.