Ghanaian calliper inventor given patent in England

A calliper joint invented by Mr Musah Baba Ahmed, former orthopaedic technician at the Jachie Training Centre for the disabled in 1986, has been given a patent in England.

The joint exhibited during the 1988 Industry and Technology Fair (INDUTECH '88), was made from flat metal components, rivets and springs. It weighs about 220 grams. It has a spring that operates a lever. When the lever is pressed at the back of the joint, the knuckle rotates allowing the lower part of the calliper to bend the spring locks and the lever back into position when the leg is straightened.

A release by Ghana Against Disability in Kumasi signed by Mr Yaw Poku Attakora-Asamoah Jnr, President of the NGO and Mr Ahmed, said the joint is being produced in Ramsey, Isle of Man in England, under the supervision of Mr Steve Salter, an associate of the inventor. It said field tests are being conducted in Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya and Cambodia and in Ghana 20 disabled persons, who would be supplied the callipers free of charge after paying for workmanship. The organisation appealed to the government to establish a National Council on Disability initiated about 19 years ago. It asked Parliament to speed up action on the Disability Bill. The release appealed to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to include institutions, which cater for the training of the disabled in the Educational Fund he has instituted because most of disabled persons need financial and material support.

The institutions are the Edwinase Rehabilitation Centre, Jachie Training Centre for the Disabled, Offinso and Nkenkansu Training Centres for the Disabled and the Nkoranza Craft Production and Training Centre for the Disabled.