Chhattisgarh presents an important opportunity for the development of prosthetic and orthotic services in central India. With a large rural population, substantial tribal communities and significant distances between major healthcare centres and remote districts, the state requires rehabilitation services that can extend well beyond its principal cities.
Raipur and other major urban centres provide an increasingly strong healthcare base, but for prosthetic and orthotic care the challenge is ensuring that patients can access not only a device, but also appropriate assessment, fitting, rehabilitation, maintenance and long-term follow-up.
For India’s P&O profession, Chhattisgarh is therefore a state where regional centres, district rehabilitation, outreach and modern digital fabrication could work together to significantly improve access.
Chhattisgarh at a Glance
Chhattisgarh had a population of approximately 25.5 million at the 2011 Census.
The Census recorded 624,937 persons with disabilities in the state. Of particular relevance to prosthetic and orthotic services, 190,328 people were recorded as having a disability in movement, while 71,957 were recorded as having multiple disabilities.
The disability breakdown included:
- 624,937 persons with disabilities
- 190,328 with disability in movement
- 111,169 with visual disability
- 92,315 with hearing disability
- 28,262 with speech disability
- 33,171 with intellectual disability under the terminology used by Census 2011
- 20,832 with mental illness
- 76,903 with other disabilities
- 71,957 with multiple disabilities.
These figures are now more than a decade old and pre-date the expanded disability categories introduced through the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016. They should therefore be viewed as a historical baseline rather than a current estimate of rehabilitation need.
Nevertheless, the 190,328 people recorded with movement-related disability highlights the potential scale of demand for mobility rehabilitation, prosthetic, orthotic and related assistive technology services.
A Large and Geographically Diverse State
Chhattisgarh’s rehabilitation challenge is shaped by geography.
Raipur, Durg-Bhilai and Bilaspur have comparatively strong access to specialist healthcare, while patients in more remote areas can face considerable travel to obtain advanced treatment.
The challenge is particularly significant in districts across the Bastar region and southern Chhattisgarh, as well as other rural and tribal areas.
Census disability data itself illustrates the breadth of the service challenge, with disability recorded across districts including Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Surguja, Jashpur, Kanker, Bastar, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Bijapur.
For P&O services, distance matters because many interventions cannot be completed effectively during a single visit.
An amputee may require assessment, casting or scanning, trial fitting, alignment, gait training and subsequent socket adjustments. A child using an orthosis may require repeated reviews as they grow.
The goal therefore needs to be continuity of rehabilitation, rather than simply distribution of devices.
Raipur as a P&O and Rehabilitation Hub
As the state capital and largest healthcare centre, Raipur is the logical location for advanced prosthetic and orthotic services.
The city provides access to tertiary hospitals, medical education and specialist disciplines that frequently interact with P&O, including orthopaedics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, neurosurgery, paediatrics and physiotherapy.
A strong central P&O facility in Raipur could potentially support a wider network extending into district hospitals and rehabilitation centres.
This hub-and-spoke approach would allow complex assessment and fabrication to remain concentrated in centres with appropriate expertise while routine assessment, follow-up and basic adjustments could increasingly be delivered closer to patients.
District Disability Rehabilitation Centres
India’s District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC) programme is particularly relevant to a state such as Chhattisgarh.
The national DDRC scheme is intended to provide rehabilitation services at district level, helping bridge the gap between specialised institutions and people with disabilities living outside major cities. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities revised the DDRC scheme from April 2023 and has also developed guidelines for model DDRCs.
For prosthetics and orthotics, effective district rehabilitation centres can potentially provide important points for:
- identifying patients who require P&O intervention;
- assessment and referral;
- coordination of assistive-device provision;
- basic repairs and adjustments;
- follow-up after fitting; and
- connecting patients with specialist centres when more complex intervention is required.
Strengthening the relationship between district rehabilitation and qualified P&O professionals could substantially improve continuity of care.
Prosthetic and Orthotic Need
The potential P&O caseload in Chhattisgarh extends considerably beyond people already living with amputation.
Lower-limb prosthetic services are required following trauma, infection, vascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other causes of limb loss.
Orthotic provision encompasses an even broader population, including people affected by:
cerebral palsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, neurological disorders, clubfoot, musculoskeletal conditions, trauma and other congenital or acquired conditions.
Diabetes represents another increasingly important area for the profession. Preventive foot assessment, customised insoles, footwear, offloading devices and appropriate rehabilitation following partial-foot or lower-limb amputation can all form part of an integrated diabetic-foot pathway.
ADIP and Assistive Technology
At national level, the Assistance to Persons with Disabilities for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) Scheme provides an important route through which eligible people can receive assistive products.
The programme works alongside organisations including the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) and other approved implementing agencies.
For Chhattisgarh, camps and outreach programmes can play an important role in reaching underserved communities.
However, prosthetic and orthotic provision should not be considered simply an equipment-distribution exercise.
A successful prosthesis depends on appropriate prescription, socket fit, alignment and rehabilitation. Likewise, an orthosis needs to be clinically appropriate, fitted correctly and reviewed over time.
Tribal and Rural Rehabilitation
Chhattisgarh’s substantial Scheduled Tribe population gives community-based rehabilitation particular importance. Census disability datasets specifically provide state and district-level disability information for Scheduled Tribe populations, reflecting the need to understand disability within different demographic groups.
Reaching remote communities may require a combination of:
district rehabilitation centres + mobile clinics + periodic specialist outreach + community health workers + tele-rehabilitation + central fabrication facilities.
Mobile P&O teams could undertake assessments, digital scans, measurements, straightforward adjustments and repairs in regional locations while referring complex cases to Raipur or another appropriate specialist centre.
This can reduce the number of journeys required from remote communities without compromising the need for qualified clinical intervention.
Digital P&O Could Improve Access
Digital technologies could be particularly useful in Chhattisgarh.
With 3D scanning, patient geometry can be captured at a district or outreach clinic and transferred digitally to a central fabrication facility.
CAD/CAM systems can then support modification and manufacturing without requiring every district to operate a complete conventional P&O workshop.
Centralised production could also improve utilisation of more advanced manufacturing technologies such as CNC milling and 3D printing.
This does not remove the prosthetist or orthotist from the process. Clinical judgement remains essential for prescription, biomechanical design, fitting and evaluation.
Instead, digital technology offers an opportunity to separate some elements of manufacturing from the location where the patient receives care.
Developing the P&O Workforce
Long-term expansion also depends on qualified professionals.
India’s Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) regulates recognised rehabilitation-professional education. In 2025, RCI introduced revised curricula for both the Bachelor in Prosthetics & Orthotics (BPO) and Master in Prosthetics & Orthotics (MPO) programmes for implementation from the 2025–26 academic session.
Chhattisgarh would benefit from stronger pathways connecting its hospitals and rehabilitation services with RCI-recognised P&O education and continuing professional development.
There is also considerable value in increasing awareness of P&O among orthopaedic surgeons, rehabilitation physicians, physiotherapists, paediatricians, neurologists and other healthcare professionals.
Good referral pathways are just as important as manufacturing capacity.
An Opportunity for a Statewide P&O Network
Chhattisgarh has the potential to develop a layered rehabilitation system rather than relying on isolated facilities or occasional camps.
At the top could be advanced P&O centres in Raipur and other major medical hubs, capable of complex prosthetic and orthotic management and central fabrication.
Below these, regional and district facilities could provide assessment, follow-up and simpler interventions.
Finally, scheduled mobile services could connect the network to communities where permanent specialist services would not currently be viable.
Digital scanning and central manufacturing could help tie these different levels together.
Outlook
Chhattisgarh has a significant documented population of people with disabilities, including more than 190,000 people recorded with movement-related disability in Census 2011 alone.
The state’s challenge is not simply increasing the number of prostheses, orthoses and assistive products available. It is ensuring that people can access the complete rehabilitation pathway required to make those technologies effective.
Raipur can provide specialist expertise and fabrication capacity, while district rehabilitation, outreach and digital technology can extend that expertise into rural and remote communities.
For India’s prosthetic and orthotic profession, Chhattisgarh represents a substantial opportunity to demonstrate how modern P&O services can combine centralised expertise with decentralised patient access.
- Department of Health & Family Welfare, Chhattisgarh
- Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
- District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRC)
- ADIP Scheme
- Unique Disability ID (UDID)
- Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO)
- Rehabilitation Council of India
- Census of India – Disability Data
- Bharat CPO State Profiles