The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in collaboration with Phoenix Medical Systems on Tuesday launched India's first indigenously-designed 'Standing Wheelchair.

The standing wheel chair branded as Arise enables a differently-abled person requiring a wheelchair to shift from sitting to standing position, and vice versa, independently and in a controlled manner.

The standing wheelchair was launched at IIT Madras Research Park in the presence of Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and others.

According to IITM, the wheel chair was designed and developed by the TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development at IITM, headed by Sujatha Srinivasan in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The commercialisation of the wheel chair technology was made possible through support from Wellcome, UK, through an 'Affordable Healthcare in India' Award, which brought together the research and manufacturing partners.

Extreme left: Thaawarchand Gehlot

Speaking about the importance of this launch, Gehlot said "In the last five years, I have seen a lot of modern technologies in India and abroad but have not seen such a good standing wheel chair anywhere in the world," Gehlot was quoted as saying in the statement.

He said the standing wheelchairs can be provided to the needy through government, constituency development fund of lawmakers and corporate social responsibility fund.

Problems due to prolonged sitting may be minimised by using standing wheelchairs instead of conventional wheelchairs. Arise was designed such that the user can actuate it from the sitting position to the standing position and vice versa independently and in a controlled manner. This can be done using the power of the user’s arms. Arise was found to be stable even in outdoor use in rural areas, on uneven terrain.

(With inputs from IANS)