Media Release
Mangaluru, Sep 13: Dr Umasankar Mohanty, Physiotherapist in the city did a 254 km foot march from Dandi to Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad from August 25 to September 3 for professional rights of Indian physiotherapists. On September 5, the team of Physio Swaraj March organised a peace march and prayer at Rajghat, New Delhi.
Thousands of physiotherapists joined the route at Dandi, Navsari, Surat, Kim, Kosamba, Ankleswar, Bhauruch, Vadodara, Anand and Ahmedabad. On September 5 at Rajghat, Delhi they conducted a peace protest rally after paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
Dr Umasankar Mohanty said they have the following demands:
1. Professional independent direct access practice for physiotherapists in Clinical Establishment Act
2. Formation of central independent physiotherapy council
Dr Uttam Kumar Tiwary, organising secretary of the march said, "Physiotherapy is an extremely important healthcare profession in the present era. At present, in India there are 303 colleges offering undergraduate (BPT) Physiotherapy programme consisting of 4 ½ years and 176 colleges offering Masters in Physiotherapy (MPT) with two years duration. PhD programme of four years duration in Physiotherapy is offered at 28 colleges and 14 universities in the country. There are 67,000 qualified physiotherapists practicing all over India and at present there are 35,000 physiotherapy students in India.
Dr Yashpal Rajpurohit, Physio from Rajasthan said, "As per World Health Organisation, Physiotherapists are defined as independent healthcare professionals to assess, plan and treat. The definition is 'Physiotherapists assess, plan and implement rehabilitative programmes that improve or restore human motor functions, maximize movement ability, relieve pain syndromes and treat or prevent physical challenges associated with injuries, diseases and other impairments. They apply a broad range of physical therapies and techniques such as movement, ultrasound, heating, laser and other techniques. They may develop and implement programmes for screening and prevention of common physical ailments and disorders."
As per Delhi Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Council, Maharashtra State Physiotherapy Council and Gujarat State Physiotherapy Council, Physiotherapy is an independent system as it has its own diagnostic and treatment methods.
The physiotherapists of India are constantly working for welfare and better health of public. Some vested interest bureaucrats in health ministry and medical rivals with critical intention are trying to stop the independent direct access practice of physiotherapists in the Clinical Establishment Act. Earlier in 2014, they came up with such a hopeless approach to curtail practising rights of physiotherapists. After major opposition, they fell silent, but again came up with the same definition. Converting and colluding the professional right will affect society at large, depriving it of good physiotherapists. We want our rights preserved as independent direct access practitioners and not as mere technicians.
"Even in elite sports like cricket, the fitness certificate of a player is issued by a physiotherapist. This itself is direct testimony for professional independence.
"There are 3,19,219 research articles indexed in Pubmed and several scientific documents of Cochrane collaboration proving the efficacy of physiotherapy treatments in various ailments of joints, muscles, ligaments, brain stroke, Parkinson’s disease, low back pain, neck pain, arthritis and sports professionals.
Although we have various independent state councils, we have no central council for physiotherapy to regulate the profession and look into professional issues. We demand formation of a central physiotherapy council like Dental Council of India and Pharmacy Council of India for proper standard of physiotherapy profession, practice and education.
"Bad posture, neck and back pain, static posture while working for long hours etc put more stress on the human body and are mainly responsible for decreased fitness. These further lead to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, respiratory, musculo-skeletal and coronary artery diseases which may cause even stroke during the productive years of human life. Cases or such diseases or lifestyle and increasing use of certain technological appliances are also growing and the trend if not prevented may adversely affect the demographic advantage.
"To tackle this situation it is, therefore, imperative to have an adequate number of trained and qualified physiotherapists. With globally comparable standards of their courses they can be given the responsibility for prevention and identification of such diseases and also early management and prevention of productivity and economic losses.
"We have earlier submitted several memorandums and petitions to the Prime Minister, Health minister and parliamentarians. Since our voice is not heard, we are conducting a 254 km foot march following the path of Mahatma Gandhi ji. We request Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji to give us our independent direct access practice right for physiotherapists in Clinical Establishment Act and to form Central Independent Physiotherapy Council."
After concluding the march, Dr Mohanty and team had a meeting with Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan and Ashwini Kumar Chaubey.