Sunday, May 29, 2016

Press release for Dandi Satyagraha by Indian physiotherapy doctors

Dear Physiotherapists and Physiotherapy Students,

Herewith sharing with you the Press release for Dandi Satyagraha. As it is a professional campaign do share it with media persons to the best of your capacity. You may include your own name or name of College/Institution/ Organisation/ Clinic while sharing the information with Media.

PRESS  RELEASE  OF DANDI SATYAGRAHA  

THE INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS  CALLS  FOR   MASSIVE SATYAGRAHA  AT DANDI ON 19TH JUNE,2016  TO ESTABLISH CENTRAL PHYSIOTHERAPY COUNCIL  

The Indian Association of Physiotherapists ( IAP) is organising a massive Satyagraha at Dandi, Navsari, Gujarat on 19th June,2016 for the purpose to establish Central Physiotherapy Council.   IAP has been submitting several memorandums to Ministers and Elected representatives but there is no progress in UPA or NDA governments. After observing  no progress in our legitimate demands IAP has decided for Nation wide satyagraha on 19th June,2016 .
Formation of a Central Physiotherapy council will do following good for society.                                                                                              
1.Establish proper standard of Physiotherapy profession, practice and education.
2. Regularize the system of registration, recognition, standard, quality of education in Physiotherapy.
3. Check the unprofessional practice/quackery in Physiotherapy by untrained professional.
4. Give Physiotherapy its due professional status in the field of Health Care Facility and Health Science.
5.The council would create better rehabilitation and health care delivery services for the people of India.

As per World Health Organisation Physiotherapists are defined independent healthcare professionals to assess , plan and treat. The definition is "Physiotherapists assess, plan and implement rehabilitative programs 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".

Even in elite sports like cricket the fitness certificate of player is issued by a Physiotherapist. This itself is direct testimony for professional independence.

There are 2,38,619 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’ disease, Low back Pain, Neck Pain, Arthritis and sports professionals.

According to census 2001 the elderly population in rural area is 12.2 million, and 31.8 million in urban area. There is no facility of physiotherapy in rural area. There are total 90 million elderly persons in India, which as per 2011 census are expected to grow to 173 million by 2026.  In year 2001, 7.4% of total population was elderly.About 64 per thousand elderly person in rural and 55 per thousand in urban area suffer from one or more physical disabilities. Most common disability among the aged person was locomotor disability which shows a continued rise in the numbers suffering from it.

Factors pointing the need of Physiotherapy System in the health care delivery to the society Bad posture, neck and back pain, static posture while working for long hours etc. put more stress on 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 life style and increasing use of certain technological appliances are also growing and the trend if not prevented may adversely affect the demographic advantage.

According to a report by the Harvard School of public health, the economic burden of ailments of this type for India will be close to US$6.2 trillion for the period of 2012-2030. As these diseases affect the person in the productive years they cause immense loss of work days as well put immense pressure on public health expenditure. This is further escalated by  the side effects of the drugs and needs to incur further expanses is for their further treatment.

Preventing the above mentioned ailments through non pharmacological means i.e. Physiotherapeutic system, in urban as well as rural areas will be a boon for the national economy. There are reports pointing that a 12.5% reduction in Ischemic Heart Disease, for example, could lead to economic savings of US $25 billion per year over the period 2011-2025 as reported by Prakash Upadhyaya in his article "An Overview of the Burden of Non communicable diseases in India"  Further, by the year 2030, this productivity loss is expected to be equivalent to 17.9 million years lost. 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.

At present The Indian Association of Physiotherapists(IAP) has 42,300 members .IAP is India's largest Physiotherapy Association and the only association of India recognized by the World Confederation of Physiotherapists. We would like the kind attention of your good self that, at present there are 296 Colleges offering undergraduate (B.P.T) Physiotherapy program consisting of 4 ½ years and 116 Colleges offering Masters in Physiotherapy (M.P.T) with 2 years duration. PhD programme in Physiotherapy is offered at 16 Colleges and 11 Universities in our country.
There are 64,063 qualified Physiotherapists practicing all over India. Till now we have no Central Council for Physiotherapy to regulate the profession and look into professional issues.
As the role of the Physiotherapist is preeminent in society and there are so many colleges running under reputed Universities establishment of Central Physiotherapy Council is definitely important and need of the hour.

IAP has selected Dandi as it plays a major role in Freedom movement. The salt Satyagraha of Gandhi Ji was done on April 6th,1930. The movement had tremendous impact on India's freedom struggle hallmarking " Right against Might". As a mark of protest Physiotherapists will be eating salt at Dandi, Navsari, Gujarat on 19th June,2016.

From IAP we are hopeful that with our efforts of Satyagraha we will draw the attention of Central Government to establish Central Physiotherapy Council for Physiotherapists at the earliest for the betterment of society at large.

In addition to our protest in Dandi from IAP we are conducting a Physiotherapy camp for general public, blood donation camp and 1,000 plantations as our regular commitment and service to society at large.

We need maximum support of the Press and Media for the genuine protest of Physiotherapists to Establish Central Physiotherapy Council.

Dr.Umasankar Mohanty                                                                    President, The Indian Association of Physiotherapists www.physiotherapyindia.org

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