pune rajaram shinde 40 could barely move his limbs when he was admitted to the military hospital mh kirkee after suffering a crippling cervical spinal cord injury in a road accident in 2016 for a substantial period the soldier from the indian armys jat regiment was confined to the hospital bed before he started going through a series of occupational therapy sessions at the health hubs stateoftheart activities of daily living adl lab facility two years down the line shinde can now stand without any support and can even walk for a distance up to 200m it has been a tough journey so far i had no confidence to even stand on my legs but now i can do my daily chores and even walk a few distance said shinde while doing his exercise routine at the facilitysepoy rajinder singh 32 has a somewhat similar tale to narrate as he was admitted to mh kirkee in 2016 with a severe cervical spinal cord injury he had sustained following an accidental fall from a surveillance tower in jammu and kashmir my condition has improved a lot as i can now do my daily chores independently he said like shinde and singh as many as 65 quadriplegic and paraplegic patients are undergoing treatment in the hospital for various injuries related to the spinal cord the hospital gets 10 such patients on an average every year a few years ago the authorities at mh kirkee the countrys third largest military health hub established adl as part of the hospitals spinal cord injury centre the objective was to make such patients selfreliant and professionally qualified latest machines help stimulate the paralysed muscles while trained physicians and physiotherapists ensure that the patients can look after themselves after being dischargedthe mh kirkee authorities are now looking for an apt upgrade of the adl facility by acquiring more advanced machines and equipment brigadier c k sreedhar commandant mh kirkee told toi we have moved a rs 357crore proposal to the army headquarters for the adl upgrade equipment such as computeraided ambulator for bedbound patients and robotic treadmill are essential for better services currently the hospital has basic rehabilitation equipment which are old too the last addition to the inventory was in 2012 occupational therapist samir ranjan who has been working at the adl for nine years said our primary aim is to give the patients confidence and make them independent so that can feed themselves wear clothes and clean themselves almost all discharged patients have become independent while the computeraided ambulator enables patients to exercise their upper and lower limbs by lying on the bed the robotic treadmill is meant for exercise at the standing position the authorities have submitted an elaborate list of such modern equipment along with their proposal the mh kirkee has a trained team of physicians and physiotherapists who help patients carry out various exercises with the help of such equipmentthe hospital was initially established as 7 indo british general hospital