The Medical Inventor

The Medical Inventor

Therdchai Jivacate, Thailand, Public Service, Magsaysay Award, prosthetic limbs, Prostheses Foundation, Chiang Mai, free artificial legs

An interview with Dr. Therdchai Jivacate barely a month after he won the 2008 Magsaysay Award for Public Service. In this interview, he spoke about his humanitarian activities in providing free prosthetic limbs to impoverished amputees, regardless of nationality and religion, since 1992 through the Prostheses Foundation. In the ‘70s, prostheses in Thailand were all made from expensive imported materials. To cut costs, Dr. Therdchai began to experiment with cheap, yet effective local materials. He collected and dissolved plastic tape cassettes, spoons, forks and Yakult yoghurt bottles in thinner. Finally, Yakult bottles were used because of its pink color similar to the skin. The Yakult bottle was used until 1994 and was since replaced by polyester resin.

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