The president of Bangladesh Physical Therapy Association (BPA), Dr. Pradeep Kumar Saha called for stopping harassment of the physiotherapists and urged to protect the image of them. He issued this clarion call at a press conference organized by Bangladesh Physical Therapy Association at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.
He, then, said “a physiotherapy doctor was defamed and accused as a fake doctor a few days ago, and it was claimed that he could not examine the patient, and could not write a prescription – such doubtful words were spread in the media. We feel that the image of our profession has been badly tarnished.”
Dr. Pradeep Kumar Saha also said that physiotherapy is an independent medical profession. Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy (BPT) is a five- year professional course combined with a four year academic and a one-year internship under the Faculty of Medicine of Dhaka University and a two-year Masters of Physiotherapy (MPT) course under the same faculty of the same university are running in a full swing. MBBS and BDS courses are also running under the same faculty of the University of Dhaka.
Physiotherapists also shared their opinions on this issue at the press conference. According to them, realizing the towering importance of physiotherapy education in the medical science, currently, Post-Graduation, Masters (MPT) and PhD degrees are offered in physiotherapy profession. On the other hand, a 3-year Diploma in Medical Technology) and certificate course are running in Physiotherapy.
Therefore, there is no need for any doctor or consultant other than specialist Physiotherapy consultants and Physiotherapy doctors to give physiotherapy treatment and advice to the patients needing physical therapy. We have our own skilled physiotherapy consultants, physiotherapy doctors, physiotherapy assistants and physiotherapy technicians in our country. These issues were also highlighted at the press conference.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar Saha expressed, “ I humbly request to all and appeal to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina- create new posts and protect the reputation of physiotherapy doctors by implementing the ‘Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council Act -2018.’ He also requested to levitate the overall quality of this profession by establishing Physiotherapy College.
The press conference also illustrated that physiotherapy doctors are being defamed and harassed under the BMDC Act. But this act is not applicable to physiotherapists. They will be governed by the ‘Bangladesh Rehabilitation Council Act 2018’ and not by the BMDC Act 2010. But, unfortunately, physiotherapists are being harassed because of the power of the BMDC Act 2010.
