In a country where there are so many injured people in need of rehabilitation, there is a shortage wheelchairs and aids for the handicapped. Finally, a Nepali engineer has started designing and building cheap wheelchairs to meet this demand.

Shankar Man Shrestha crafts custom-designed physiotherapy machines, low-trolley wheelchairs for mothers who need to do housework and take care of babies, and other apparatus. Recently, he was even asked to design a wheelchair for Tara, a street dog paralysed when she was hit by a car. It took three months for Shankar to put together what is probably Nepal's first canine wheelchair (below).

This 37-year-old teacher at Balaju Technical School has built more than 200 wheelchairs, and his innovativeness is stunning. "I listen very carefully when the patients talk about their requirements," Shankar explains, "then I discuss it with their doctors and therapists. I spend a lot of time designing the right device."

Then comes the building part, which is not easy because of the shortage of strong, but lightweight material. Often, Shankar has had to go back to the drawing board to find a design solution for unavailable parts. The greatest advantage for physically-challenged Nepalis is the surprising affordability of Shankar's creations. An imported wheelchair costs anywhere up to Rs 70,000, but his cost ten times less. And that comes with free maintenance. "Life in Nepal is difficult enough already for the disabled, my job is to make it somewhat easier by giving them mobility," he says.

The reason they are cheap is because it is a labour of love for Shankar, he does not aim to make money out of it. And Shankar's reward is to see the happiness on the faces of his newly-mobile patients, including Tara as she wheels around happily.