Physiotherapists are not doctors: MCI

LEGAL AND GRIEVANCES REDRESSAL COMMITTEE.
Dr. Prabhu informed that the IAP has appointed Mr.Pratik Jalan as legal advisor to IAP to look into all legal matters. He appealed to all members to write to the Secretary about any legal matter.
Dr. Savita read out a letter written by MCI and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences to a member who had been pulled up for prefixing DR. in front of his name. The letter categorically denies the right to prefix “Dr” for Physiotherapists and the principals should ensure the same. If any physiotherapists found to be continuing, the college would be disaffiliated. It was pointed out that this letter has been copied to I.A.P. thus, for the first time I.A.P. has been implicated in this dispute regarding prefixing DR. and therefore suggested that I.A.P. should challenge this in a court of law. A lot of discussion ensued. Dr. Dastoor, at this stage agreed that we have to go to court, at the same time warned the members that if we win it would put the matter to rest once and for all, however if we did lose, it will be binding on all I.A.P. members of all states to stop using the prefix DR. Dr. Bhatnagar affirmed this viewpoint. Dr. Ravindra was requested to send the entire correspondence to the Legal Cell for evaluating the merit of the case before filing a case.
Dr. Narasimhan expressed a desire of going to court. Dr. Ali Irani in this context showed a verdict of Bihar Court and he appreciated the action taken by Bihar branch of filing a petition in high court. They have a confidence of winning the case which is now in the Supreme Court. It was unanimously agreed to await the Supreme Court decision.
Dr. Prabhu appealed to all the members that whoever have got any letters from any institute, or university or any court order relating to prefixing ‘Dr”, should send the whole correspondence to the Secretary. IAP legal cell would then take necessary steps.
Please have faith my physio friends.

IAP and other physiotherapists know that they have already lost the battle when supreme court referred the matter to patna high court again(SLP 8234/2003). Patna high court in its verdict said only a registered practioners under MCI Act 1956 can practice medicine india. without telling these facts, young physiotherapists are made foolish by senior IAP members, private college owners, who are minting money. They are making other's foolish.

Even a delhi district court in a defamation suite (Civil appeal No. RCA 27/05), clearly says "Physiotherapists are technicians who follow precription of doctors and no medication can be precribed by physiotherapist".

It's only a private physiotherapy college owners and Indian Association of Physiotherapy making students and their parents fools saying they will be made doctors (collecting capital fee and IAP collecting percentage from equipment manufacturers and collecting fee for recognition).

Physiotherapists becoming a doctor will never ever happen in india !

One day when a patient files a case against this malpractice and a physiotherapist put in a jail, then the IAP and other rogue physiotherapists who call themselves as doctors will learn a lesson.

This is not too far, will happen soon !!

Okay mr, vishal. Tell what more you about physiotherapy??? I mean what you do??? Are you an medico???
Well have some deeper knowledge about physical therapy to comment something like this what u've done.
As far as some of the medicos question about us being able to assess, diagnose and treat patients, I'd like them to go to the standards of Physical therapy in UK/US...

They are also entitled "DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY (D.P.T.)" (search this on any search engine!)

in such countries people know them better by their eligibility i.e. Physical therapist, physician, surgeon, dentist, neurologist, cardiologist etc etc rather under a single common heading "DOCTOR"

I dont understand why is the title "Dr" so fascinating over here in INDIA???

I AM A PHYSIOTHERAPIST
I INDIA PEOPLE LOOK DRS ARE THE ONE WHO TREAT DISEASES OF PATHOLOGICAL IN ORGIN. BUT SOME DISEASES ARE PATHOMECHANICAL IN ORGIN DUE PHYSICAL STRESS, AGING PROCESS, MOVEMNT DISORDER OF NEUROLOGICAL INSULT ETC. IN SUCH CONDITIONS WHERE MEDICINES HAVE NO ROLE TO PLAY ONLY PHYSICAL THERAPIST CAN TREAT THEM WELL. SARVAN SHOULD MIND HIS WORDS BEFORE SPEAKING(Better you improve your knowledge, all radiologists and anesthesiologists are physicians all across the world,If you guys are so knowledgeble why cann't you study MBBS and practice medicine). REMEMBER IN US AUSTRALIA AND IN SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PHYSIOTHERAPIST HAVE THE RIGHTS FOR FIRST CONTACT PRACTICE WHERE IN INDIA????????!! ITS MY KIND SUGESTION FOR ALL INDIAN THERAPIST, GIVE ADVANCED PHYSIO TO THE ONE WHO RESPECT AND READY TO ACCEPT OUR NEW APPROACH OTHERWISE GIVE ONLY TRADITIONAL PHYSIO AS PER THE ACT AND MCI ADVICE. PHYSIOTHERAPY HAS ITS OWN DIGNITY AND WE DONT WANT TO BEG OTHERS FOR IT. ITS MY WAY SURELY WE WILL FIND A NEW PREFIX WHICH WILL DIFFER US FROM OTHERS... ITS MY WAY..

Hello sir.
As much as i do not agree to most of the comments in favour of Physios being called as doctors i also do not agree to yours.Your comment seems to be juvenile.I do not know if you have done your mbbs.However your statement saying that Just because students didnt get good marks in 12th they join physiotherapy.The minimum guideline by the MCI for an MBBS course is 50%.Many private colleges admit for the MBBS degree program students who have deep pockets and 50% and I joined BPT in government college with 90%.Does it make any sense to you.What i mean to say is that what we study is our choice and not by the money and marks.So comment wisely.regards

Saravan wrote:

Better you improve your knowledge, all radiologists and anesthesiologists are physicians all across the world,If you guys are so knowledgeble why cann't you study MBBS and practice medicine?, i think physiotherapists in India are in foolish world, they did not get admission for MBBS after 12th, so now wants to overcome that inferiority complexity by affixing Dr .

i am a student at Kenya Medical Training College, KENYA.
Physiotherapists are Doctors.i support my fellow physiotherapists and differ with nidhi tiwari

physiotherapists are dr????? no they cant be,,,
if this is so then even lab tech can write dr

no they cant,if then lab tech can also write dr

that's the bitter FACT.
we need to digest this. all this problem is due to the investers ie., physiotherapy college owners and IAP - just to make them self rich, project physios as Dr's - are fooling around and making the people fools. trapped pupils/ students have switched over to other professions like computer / management etc after completing even second year...this is what is happening here in india now...
In NONE of the foreign countries, NONE of the physiotherapists are called as Doctors.
Can any human being accept getting paid of 1500 and 2000 rupees per month after studying a course for 4+ years? is it really worth? in cities most people can earn their bread anyhow...think of periphery towns, think of middle class people who are fooled by these institutions and IAP...Parents proudly say their son / daughter are studying for "dr", and at the end point after completing the course of 4 1/2 years, salary of 1500 / 2000 rupees/month.. where are we heading... death trap.. Reality speaks.. no one can help this profession... all the hopeful words given by the seniors are GAS... switch over to other courses or GET TRAPPED...

In kenya, Physiotherapists are physiotherapist, staff nurse are staff nurse, pharmacist are pharmacist and Doctors are Doctors. do not fool around.

Epaphras Titi wrote:

i am a student at Kenya Medical Training College, KENYA.
Physiotherapists are Doctors.i support my fellow physiotherapists and differ with nidhi tiwari

My dear physiotherapy friends !

Again you people are making Patients, General public, Politicians and Buerocrats fools by mentioning DPT courses abroad.

For your kind information Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) is a PhD Degree (Insted of Doctor of Philosophy it's Doctor of Physical therapy) and it is an Academic degree and you are not entitled to use Prefix "Dr" which is a professional Affix for Medical graduates. Even after getting this degree physical therapists in USA and Canada and other countries are not entitled to call as Doctor or Prefix of "Dr" in the letterheads, during communication with patients, visiting cards and name plates. One of the law in California say's " The license as a physical therapist shall not authorize the use of the prefix "Dr.," the word "doctor," or any suffix or affix indicating or implying that the licensed person is a doctor or a physician or surgeon".

Any patient can take up this issue in the indian court at anytime.

Don't make everyone foolish just like what Indian Association of Physiotherapy doing.

reena wrote:

no they cant,if then lab tech can also write dr

hello reena, i dont know which profession u belongs to. its a real challenge for us to distinguish physio from other profession like lb'techn(honorable one in the side of differential diagnosis) etc. the word physical therapsit itself is saying the one who treat movement related problems pertain to musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiac issues. it is a treatment and have many approaches, seperate assessment charts, syllabus on differential diagnosis and treatment modalities ranges from lazer to clay materials. we r here to treat public and it includes you, because as our age increases the degeneration process starts automatically and make us cripled in some ways where u need our help. while reading this comment in ur desktop please keep ur monitor 15 degree below ur eye level because it creates many problem in future like neck arthritis, cervicogenic pain syndrome, eye muscle weakness etc. if u have such problem now dont contact a lab tech who is in one end of spectrum in medicine or a doctor who is in other end of this spectrum. contact us because it is a problem related to biomechanical/ergonomical/kine siological issues and we have the better treatment. kindly note: first understand what s physiotherapy and comment

Vishal Saxena wrote:

My dear physiotherapy friends !
Again you people are making Patients, General public, Politicians and Buerocrats fools by mentioning DPT courses abroad.
For your kind information Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) is a PhD Degree (Insted of Doctor of Philosophy it's Doctor of Physical therapy) and it is an Academic degree and you are not entitled to use Prefix "Dr" which is a professional Affix for Medical graduates. Even after getting this degree physical therapists in USA and Canada and other countries are not entitled to call as Doctor or Prefix of "Dr" in the letterheads, during communication with patients, visiting cards and name plates. One of the law in California say's " The license as a physical therapist shall not authorize the use of the prefix "Dr.," the word "doctor," or any suffix or affix indicating or implying that the licensed person is a doctor or a physician or surgeon".
Any patient can take up this issue in the indian court at anytime.
Don't make everyone foolish just like what Indian Association of Physiotherapy doing.

Mr.Vishal i accept ur comment. doctors are called physician or a surgeon and we r called clinician in those countries. i suggest why cant u include us among one of them. we have no rights to prescribe drugs but have the capacity to treat. from ur point of view what name will u suggest for us other than physicaltherapy, i ask.

Y none of our friends r undrstanding physical therapy is a profession by itself. we do DPT/BPT/MPT, call ourself Physiotherapist, others do BE/ME/M.Tech and call themself Engineers, some do MBBS/BDS/BHMS/etc and call themself Doctors.
we r not prescribing drugs or medications. our roots were from the Nurses who started giving the modalities and called themselves physical therapist.. now the speciality has grown... in foriegn countries chiro's want to call themself physios and not as doctors... so somebody is looking at us from below.. be a PROUD "PHYSIOTHERAPIST"
and do not dilute the speciality by bringing any other name to it.
In western countries there is no fight like this, because physios have very good academic knowledge and have a very good income inspite are NOT first contact persons.
Here in india most physiotherapy colleges run without any staff,..
what ever is there in the syllabus, its only in the books... from most or almost all physiotherapy colleges no knowlegede is imparted to the students and ultimately for the betterment of the profession.
In tamilnadu leeding physiotherapy colleges have already closed the courses, just to avoid running in loss. now lot of distance education physiotherapy (2 year, 4 year, 4 1/2 year) courses and PG (MPT and M.Sc PT) degrees are available all over india and any one can call himself physiotherapist by studying without any basic knowledge on physiotherapy leave alone other things like anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, etc.
problem is here
1. improve the knowledge by regulating the colleges thro strict law enforcements.
2. bring out good learned and skillful candidates/physiotherapist.. they will show the difference and not the kind of persons available now in india...
3. make sure to close all low grade/poor quality physiotherapy colleges(unfortunately most are)thro some requlatory body or improve them to international standards(atleast some standard)- the existing ones.
4. QUALITY speaks, bring in quality in physiotherapy education. it will take lot of years of hard work from the senior academic physiotherapists.
all the discussion (regarding prefix dr's) going on here will become obselete when these thing are done.
people will look at us as "PHYSIOTHERAPIST" and not as quacks/doctors. Prescribing medications, simulating ourself as dr's, calling ourself as dr's, all these degrades our value and ultimately we will loose our facevalue and become a failure profession.
for all these years see how the nursing education has grown, they have plenty of subspecialities and have created a good value for themself...
look at the engineers, once no one wanted to be an engineer 20 years back, now every one wants to be an engineer..
they did not claimed for other profession prefix... now most higher secondary students prefer to take engineering rather than MBBS or related medical field. just 20 years back they were no where, but now Er are ruling the country..
ANY ONE WHO WANTS TO PREFIX Dr is DOING HARM TO THE SPECIALITY by wearing face mask(Dr's) and masking our real face. SOME DAY MASK WILL BREAK, AND WE WILL BE NO WHERE! Instead let us break the mask now - BE A PROUD PHYSIOTHERAPIST AND NOT A DOCTOR OR ENGINEER.
things will change, only by improving our speciality thro quality education and skillfull physiotherapists and not by putting ourself in other's face ie., Dr's.
i see there is no meaning in fighting for that(Dr'S) prefix. "PHYSIOTHERAPIST ARE PHYSIOTHERAPIST" There ends the topic...

siva wrote:

<quoted text> Mr.Vishal i accept ur comment. doctors are called physician or a surgeon and we r called clinician in those countries. i suggest why cant u include us among one of them. we have no rights to prescribe drugs but have the capacity to treat. from ur point of view what name will u suggest for us other than physicaltherapy, i ask.

Also my dear medico friends u guys can also not put "dr" infront of your names when u guys know so much about U.S. and other Western countries !
Specialists are better known by their specialty viz physician, orthopedic surgeon, anesthesiologist etc. So what you guys are proud of?
Today MBBS without any P.G. degree (md/ms) holds nothing !
I feel Physios should be more oriented towards the profession rather wasting time on such issues !
The role pf Physios, Deitician, Pharmists etc is must for today's medical health system !
Also let me also tell you that while speaking of US and other western countries; it
s the pharmacist that gives the drugs along with its doses. The Physician only diagnosis the condition, he has no business to administer drugs to the patient ! SO is this what Medicos feel proud of???
If MCI can object questions on the Physios; the MCI is also answerable against the Pharmacy Council Of INDIA !!!

one who cures is a doctor..
one who listens to the complaints and heal is doctor..
we listen and spent time with the patient and we cure..
so why shouldn't we use the prefix as doctors. so beware mci to use any terms over.. we are doing our job.. so u can do yours..

MANOJ has written one who cares one who listen is a dr,blah...blah..blah
then palmist, saadhu ,all saint etc who ever listen and care for us is a dr ISNT IT????
ITS A FUNNY THING
i guess munna bhai MBBS had a v good impact on u
physio,,is indeed good job but they are not dr

if it is so in US and western countries, then y u want to prefix your self as "Dr" Bond?
Please Speak Sensibly.

find some answers for the following questions:
Staff Nurses - deliver injections,nursing care in the hospitals, does surgeries with Doctors,they have plenty of sub specialities - surgical nursing, pediatric nursing, community nursing, Rehabilitation nursing, Gyne nursing, what not .. all specialities are available..and they are exposed to ample clinical stuffs during their course and work places -- do they claim themself as "Doctors"?
same is the case with Pharmacists,

they know their limitations and they excel in their fields, what happened to u all the physios?

Claims should be reasonable!

you have 2 year diploma courses - can they call them self Doctors?
most physiotherapy colleges have poor education capacity, any one who can invest some money can start a physiotherapy college and no restrictions and hence so many are avialable in india.. do they carry any value at all?
a physio who does his pg in neurological conditions will claim to be a NEUROLOGIST later, and one who does pg in orthopedic conditions will claim to be an ORTHOPIDICIAN, which are in same lines as physios claiming to be a doctor!!

physiotherapy derived from nursing speciality in early days, though its grown, is still a technician job all over the world.

some one spoke nonsense about Anaesthetist and Radiologist... they are the specialist and are the top specialities in medicine -- the fool who spoke about the speciality did not know the difference between a "radiographer" and a "Radiologist"?

if physios want to prefix doctors then u r under MEDICAL council automatically and y do u need any other council at all?

today there are about one lakh MBBS doctors in india, so do u feel it is nothing?

just do your duty, do not paste shit on your own face by commenting about unknown things..

NO QUESTIONS, PHYSIOS DIG THEIR OWN GRAVE BY PULLING others into such nonsense discussions..
do not compare yourself with medicos / Doctors and waste your energy .. paramedics are paramedics, physiotherapist are physiotherapist,doctor is a doctor! if u want to claim to be a doctor then who is a "physiotherapist?"

Dr Bond wrote:

Also my dear medico friends u guys can also not put "dr" infront of your names when u guys know so much about U.S. and other Western countries !
Specialists are better known by their specialty viz physician, orthopedic surgeon, anesthesiologist etc. So what you guys are proud of?
Today MBBS without any P.G. degree (md/ms) holds nothing !
I feel Physios should be more oriented towards the profession rather wasting time on such issues !
The role pf Physios, Deitician, Pharmists etc is must for today's medical health system !
Also let me also tell you that while speaking of US and other western countries; it
s the pharmacist that gives the drugs along with its doses. The Physician only diagnosis the condition, he has no business to administer drugs to the patient ! SO is this what Medicos feel proud of???
If MCI can object questions on the Physios; the MCI is also answerable against the Pharmacy Council Of INDIA !!!

Well mr majumdaar thats my style of interacting !
u've got some probs with that ???
well i didnt read your all rubbish but what i found in the end is "if dr's are dr's then what are physio's"
then it must be dentists are dentists but who are doctors???
stop asking such stupid questions !
plz better dont comment if u know "0" about the profession !

also mr majumdaar
it seems that u've developed a habit of eating SHIT

who the hell told you that being eligible to prefix "dr" in INDIA you must be registered under MCI???

Are homoepathy/auyerveda doctors certified as doctors by your dad???

and by the way you are right in 1 sense
"today there are about one lakh MBBS doctors in india, so do u feel it is nothing?"

yes i do !
i am a physio from a medical college and i know what MBBS guys earn !

the fact is 6000/Month !
So why do you people boast so much about that???
if you still dont agree, then i m really sorry !
U GOTTA EAT SHIT !