Physioblasts.Org

Friday 19 September 2008 - 10:29:14

Increasing the tension between physiotherapists and medical doctors, the parliamentary standing committee is exploring the possibility of upgrading physiotherapy from a paramedical discipline to an independent system of medicine.

If our claim to have the competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis for medical problems is accepted by the Parliament committee, physiotherapy will attain the status of an independent system of medicine. But doctors fear that the disruption of the existing hierarchy of healthcare may compromise the interests of patients. Says S L Yadav, associate professor at the AIIMS department of physical medicine and rehabilitation: " One of the common causes for low backache, for instance, is the spread of cancer to the spine. Since he is not equipped to detect cancer, the physiotherapist may routinely administer traction or a heat modality, which could aggravate the problem and cause paralysis."

Ali Irani, president of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP), refutes the suggestion that greater autonomy to physiotherapists would undermine the health care system. "Given our own expertise, we are as capable as general physicians in noticing the pathology of a patient and referring him to an oncologist for cancer treatment," says Irani, who was the Indian cricket team's physiotherapist for 10 years from 1987. "It is just that doctors are unable to come to terms with the fact that our science has developed to an extent where we too could refer patients to them and they can't demand cuts from us any longer." He also adds that since Physiotherapists are not asking for any power to prescribe medicines or to perform surgery, nobody can accuse us of encroaching into their domain.

Courtesy: Times Of India, New Delhi.