Locations: Peshawar, Bagh, Batagram, Balakot, Besham and Manshera, Pakistan
The Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences (PIPOS) is Pakistan’s primary prosthetic treatment center and the only school for prosthetic and orthotic sciences. PIPOS was informally created in 1979 by the German nonprofit GTZ, which brought a team of specialists to Peshawar, Pakistan to assist the hundreds of injured Afghans fleeing across the Pakistan border following the the Soviet invasion.
Eventually GTZ transitioned out of their support role and PIPOS became formally recognized by the Pakistan Government as a national university. Today, PIPOS is distinguished as the preeminent amputee hospital in the country and provides artificial limbs for patients at five clinic sites across Pakistan. PIPOS does not receive any government funding and operates by charging tuition fees to its students and applying a sliding scale fee system to patients. In the wake of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005, PIPOS was the only prosthetic and orthotic organization to keep its doors open.
After the earthquake, Direct Relief invested $203,615 to entirely fund one of the PIPOS satellite National Rural Support Program facilities in Besham, Pakistan for two years. Since its establishment in 1991, the NRSP has become the largest non-profit rural support program in Pakistan. NRSP currently works with over 500,000 poor households and has emerged as one of Pakistan's leading engines for poverty reduction and rural development.