Occupational therapy is an honourable medical profession recently introduced in the field of health care in Bangladesh.
It is the profession for different medical conditions (like neurological, psychiatric, cardiac, paediatric, musculoskeletal and so on) through different therapeutic medium.
In this profession an occupational therapist treat the patients by physical therapy, mental therapy, retraining the patients of daily living activities in regards of their condition. Occupational therapist also provides adaptive equipment to improve functional capability and to maintain correct posture of the patient.
Firstly the course was initiated by Dr Ronald Joseph Garst at NITOR hospital after just liberation of Bangladesh. The completion of first batch this course was been discontinued due to lack of teacher and other resources. Presently Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) has started Occupational Therapy courses (B. Sc, Diploma and Assistant under University of Dhaka and Bangladesh State Medical Faculty) on 1995 and since then the courses are running smoothly up to now.
More then 50 countries are continuing this service for the persons with disability to make them independent in their daily lives. An occupational therapist can work in the setting of hospitals, rehabilitation centers, clinics, special schools, community based rehabilitation programs, psychiatric hospitals, pediatric hospitals, ergonomic firms, and etc.
Occupational therapy is a holistic profession, use holistic approach to treat the disabled, work in holistic places. We should think for this profession; we should help to create new places for better services for the persons with disabilities.
The writer is an occupational therapist working at CRP, Savar, Bangladesh. Email: [email protected]
Source: The Daily Star, December 20, 2008
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