Therdchai Jivacate
Encyclopedia
Therdchai Jivacate is a Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...

 orthopedic surgeon and inventor known for his humanitarian activities in providing free prosthetic limbs
Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...

 to impoverished amputees, and for his development of techniques allowing low-cost, high-quality prostheses to be made from local materials. The activities of the Prostheses Foundation, which he founded in 1992 under royal sponsorship from the Princess Mother Srinagarindra
Srinagarindra
Srinagarindra was a member of the Thai Royal Family and was a member of House of Mahidol, which is descended from Chakri Dynasty, originated by Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, the Prince of Songkla, son of King Chulalongkorn...

, have expanded beyond the borders of Thailand to Malaysia, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, and Burma. Jivacate has established Thailand's first and only educational institution of occupational therapy at Chiang Mai University
Chiang Mai University
Chiang Mai University is a public research university in northern Thailand founded in 1964 with a strong emphasis on engineering, science, and agriculture. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction...

. He has also created an educational programme for children suffering from chronic diseases at Maharaj Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Ratchasima or is a city in the north-east of Thailand and gateway to Isan. It is the capital of the Nakhon Ratchasima Province and Nakhon Ratchasima district...

. In 2008, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award
Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The Ramon Magsaysay Award is often considered Asia's Nobel...

 for Public Service.

In addition to his work with humans, Dr Jivacate has also designed prosthetic limbs for elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

s who have been injured by landmines.

Early life

Therdchai Jivacate graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University
Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
The Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University,the second oldest medical school in Thailand, was established in 1947 in accordance with the wishes of King Ananda Mahidol to educate a sufficient number of medical doctors to satisfy the public's demands. For more than half a century, this medical...

 in 1965. From 1968 to 1972 he was a resident
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...

 of physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physical medicine and rehabilitation , physiatry or rehabilitation medicine, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician having completed training in this field is referred to as a...

 in Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, while from 1972 to 1975 he specialized in orthopedic surgery
Orthopedic surgery
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system...

 at Chiang Mai University. One of his first technological discoveries involved manufacturing artificial legs from recycled plastic yogurt bottles. Jivacate used his own funds to simplify and adapt the process and the devices to meet local needs—for instance, designing artificial legs specifically for use by farmers working in wet fields.

Prostheses Foundation

On August 17, 1992 under sponsorship from the Princess Mother Srinagarindra he founded the Prostheses Foundation headquartered in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...

 becoming its secretary-general. With further support from private donors, the royal family, and the Thai national lottery fund, the organization's activities were expanded. The Prostheses Foundation has manufactured artificial legs for more than 15,000 people, for free.

Innovations

After observing that amputees living in the remote borderlands of Thailand were among the least likely to obtain proper prosthetic limbs, Jivacate formed field clinics—that is, organized teams of specialized personnel and volunteers who manufacture prosthetic limbs in mobile workshops. The process is completed within six days; every day 150 to 300 people acquire new prosthetic limbs. Since 1992, Jivacate has organized nearly 100 mobile workshop missions including missions in Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, the workshops of some of which eventually became permanent satellite ones. These workshops are equipped, and their technicians (many of whom are also amputees) are trained, by the Prostheses Foundation. These activities have also been expanded in Aceh
Aceh
Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...

, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. As of 2010, the mobile units have provided service to about fourteen thousand patients, made seventeen thousand new prosthetic legs, and repaired two thousand artificial legs.

In 2009 Jivacate used a modified version of the Centre for Rehabilitation casting system to fabricate a prosthetic leg for Baby Mosha, a female elephant whose leg had been amputated after she had stepped on a landmine in 2006, when she was 7 months old. The process was featured in a documentary film titled The Eyes of Thailand directed by Windy Borman.

Awards

In 1993, one year after the establishment of the Prostheses Foundation, Dr Jivacate won the Thararom Quality Award for creative inventions from discarded materials, and was voted best rural doctor by the National Medical Association of Thailand. In 1994, the National Research Council of Thailand awarded him the third prize for the most useful medical invention. On August 31, 2008 he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award
Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The Ramon Magsaysay Award is often considered Asia's Nobel...

 for Public Service by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...

as a recognition of his work on developing artificial limbs available even for poor people.

External links

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