Physical therapy as a profession and its educational development in Pakistan

Physical therapists work in different medical and related settings and serve to maintain and restore functional capability. pakistan has a disability rate of 2.65% with a total of around 5.035 million disabled people. physical therapy as a profession started in 1956 at the jinnah postgraduate medical centre with a 2-year diploma,later on 4 years bachelors programme was also started. in 2008,doctor of physical therapy programme was initiated. the representative body “pakistan physical therapy association” was also established in 2008 which then joined the world confederation for physical therapy in 2011. there is plenty of work being done in the field and it has seen a rapid growth in the past decade compared to the last 50 years. currently,there are 69 institutions in pakistan offering various physical therapy courses. the profession currently requires an autonomous regulatory body to control its educational curriculum and development as well as safeguard its interests. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.