Physiotherapists vs MBBS: The battle over the ‘Dr.’ prefix intensifies

A controversy has erupted in Hyderabad over the use of the ‘Dr.’ prefix by physiotherapists, following a directive from the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) that was swiftly withdrawn after backlash. Physiotherapists argue that their professional council permits the prefix, while MBBS doctors contest the claim.

Hyderabad: A tug of war has broken out between physiotherapists and MBBS doctors over whether physiotherapists can use the prefix ‘Dr.’ before their name.

Trouble started when the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), Dr. Sunita Sharma, on September 9, issued a directive outlining why physiotherapists should not use the ‘Dr.’ prefix. However, within a day, after a huge backlash and a spate of representations, the DGHS withdrew the directive, maintaining that further deliberations are required on the matter.

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Senior physiotherapists and faculty from Hyderabad, who are familiar with the regulations and the National Commission for Allied Healthcare Professionals (NCAHP) Act, 2021, which governs the profession, expressed their views.

“The profession of physiotherapy comes under the NCAHP guidelines. We have a Physiotherapy Professional Council under NCAHP, which had earlier said that physiotherapists can use ‘Dr.’ as a prefix and at the same time should also have ‘PT’ as a suffix,” maintained the president of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP), Telangana State branch, Dr. S. Purna Chandra Shekhar.

The NCAHP Act, 2021, does not explicitly mention the “Dr.” prefix or its usage by any professional category. The Act’s primary purpose is to regulate and standardise the education and practice of allied and healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists (PTs).

However, NCAHP recently drafted a new syllabus for physiotherapy in which it was proposed that those with a Bachelor’s degree (BPT) or higher could use the ‘Dr.’ prefix, which prompted the DGHS to issue the September 9 directive.