Physiotherapists on protest march in Gujarat send email to PM Modi

Physiotherapists currently on a protest march in Gujarat have sent an email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the setting up of an independent national council for the profession and changes in a draft medical bill. Some 800 physiotherapists from across the country began a ten-day 254-km march on August 25 from Dandi in south Gujarat to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad for several demands, including rectifying issues concerning the profession in the draft Clinical Establishment (Central Government) Third Amendment Rules, 2019.

The march will end at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on September 3. "We have sent an email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the formation of a central independent physiotherapy council. PM Modi had established Gujarat State Physiotherapy Council when he was CM of the state. The email was sent after the physiotherapists' march reached Vadodara on Saturday," said march organizing committee chairperson Umashankar Mohanty.

The email stated that physiotherapists want their status as independent direct-access practitioners preserved and not get relegated to being mere technicians as envisaged in the draft rules, he said.