Dr. Naseema Hurzuk

This was almost 21 years ago in Kolhapur. Their idea was to make medical treatment accessible and affordable, also to rehabilitate physically challenged people in the society, given their special needs andabilities. They now have an integrated residential school, a treatment centre, a rehab centre, a vocational training centre, a gas agency (to sustain their finances so that they need not wholly depend upon donations and charity), experimental activities in small-scale sector and an integrated village at Morai, near Kudal.

They emphasise early detection and treatment, also make/manufacture crutches, etc to make them available at minimum costs, teach agri-based occupations and value-additions to these students so that challenged children can grow up to be physically as well as financially independent. They have so far helped 12,130 physically challenged (the type of handicap is not a limitation because they have integrated facilities) to get over the handicap and live their lives with dignity and independence. Their rehab efforts so far have been to the tune of Rs 3.4 crore.

The day to day affairs are run by Mr PD Deshpande, as secretary, who took VRS from a nationalized bank to be able to do this.Though Dr Naseema Hurzuk is herself wheelchair bound, she has let nothing comebetween her ambition to ensure that her physically challenged students achievetheir full potential.

Through her relentless energy and inspiring fight against all odds, to singlehandedly build, what is among the nation's largest organisations for thephysically challenged, she has become a role model not only for the handicappedbut for anyone who has had the opportunity to see her work.

She says her greatest joy is in seeing these children make it in life, to seethem do all the things they could only dream of and to overcome the rejectionand humiliation they may have gone through.