Islamabad. The World Physical Therapy Day is being marked across the globe, today. Recognized by the World Confederation for Physical Therapy in the year 1996. The day is commemorated to raise awareness on the importance of physical therapy support to the patients as well as the crucial role of physiotherapist in rehabilitation and recovery, specially to people and children with disabilities. This year the theme of the World Physical Support Day is “Long COVID and Rehabilitation”, focusing on the physio support to the people during or post COVID treatment.
With regards to WPT Day, the Country Director for Federation Handicap International (HI) also known as Humanity & Inclusion, Ms Caroline Duconseille has emphasized the need of adequate physiotherapy services for persons with disabilities in Pakistan. She noted that “the World Physiotherapy Day demands us to take special care of patients with special needs under this COVID context as the chest physio support is highly significant to help people in early recovery from the disease, ultimately reducing burden on the health infrastructure. Besides, the physical therapy is also very important for all those suffering from any physical injury or a muscular pain, enabling them to get back their mobility and the pain relief” said Ms Caroline.
She further stated that HI in Pakistan is providing the physical therapy services along with assistive devices under various projects from across the country including 6 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “HI is committed to ensure inclusion of the persons with disabilities in all walk of life to harness their potential. For this purpose, HI in support with our international donors and with the cooperation of the national and provincial governments, is implementing multiple initiatives including assistive support, livelihood trainings, psycho-social support and further exploring income generation activities, to uplift the status of persons with disabilities in targeted districts.” As physically challenged people are more often neglected in health and accessibility services, therefore, HI is also working on the advocacy building to help sensitize institutions. She maintained that, “still there is a dire need of creating awareness and perusing government and health authorities and all other relevant stakeholders to ensure provision of physiotherapy services at all hospitals under inclusive health services.”
While mentioning the important role of Physiotherapists in rehabilitation, the Operations Manager HI, Maryam Khan added that a physiotherapist can help an injured or paralyzed person to get back his or her mobility with the help of physical exercises. She further noted that that” in Pakistan, still there is a dire need of creating awareness on the subject and perusing youngsters to come into this field for addressing the gap in this area.
As part of its efforts to make a tangible positive difference in the lives of persons with disabilities, the Handicap International is implementing various donor funded projects across Pakistan. The organization is aiming to implement the Learning, Acting and Building for Rehabilitation in Health Systems (ReLAB-HS), a global project that will support the development of health systems that are responsive to the growing needs for rehabilitation within populations. It seeks to co-design and implement innovative, comprehensive, cost-effective interventions that strengthen health systems for provision of rehabilitation, including assistive technology.
ReLAB-HS will focus on integrating rehabilitation and assistive technology services across all levels of care within health systems. The ReLAB-HS consortium comprises of six international partners with expertise in health systems, implementation science, and delivery innovations.
