Its time to fix physios: Varsity

COIMBATORE: Stepping in to check the rampant misuse of medical qualifications, the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has come up with an ‘internal policing’ mechanism.The guidelines, finalised by an expert committee headed by Vice Chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan, mandates, among other things, that physiotherapists should not use the prefix ‘Dr’.  Besides, persons qualified with a Ph.D can use the prefix ‘Dr’ but only with the suffix ‘Ph.D’. “When a PhD-qualified person uses the title ‘Dr’ as a prefix, it can lead to unnecessary confusion as to whether he/she is a medical practitioner,” a senior professor at the university said.Interestingly, this is not the first time the medical fraternity is crossing swords with physiotherapists over the use of the ‘Dr’ title. A couple of years ago, the Medical Council of India had come up with a similar measure attracting sharp reactions from physiotherapists led by Ali Irani, former physician to the Indian Cricket team. “Even a Tamil Nadu Government Order expressly bans physiotherapists from calling themselves doctors,” argued Natarajan.A fortnight ago, a delegation of the Indian Medical Association met Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy demanding that his government issue an order making it compulsory that the ‘Dr’ prefix should be used only by registered medical practitioners and not by physiotherapists.Dr MGR Medical University has also made it clear that foreign doctors coming to India to conduct workshops or demonstrate surgical techniques should come only on a business visa or education visa. “They should apply to the Medical Council of India for temporary registration to perform surgeries on Indian patients. If they come on tourist visa, they should not be permitted to perform surgery,” the expert committee has recommended.Besides, doctors have been prohibited from displaying degrees obtained through short-term courses offered by other universities in the distance education mode. “Fellowships by other Universities such as FAO, FACC or memberships in organisations should not be displayed. Degrees not given by the appropriate authority should not be added as suffix to doctors registered in the TN Medical Council,” the recommendations added.Similarly, only professors, additional professors, emeritus professors and distinguished professors can use the prefix ‘Professor’ or ‘Prof.’  Adjunct professors of the university or associate professors and readers cannot use the prefix ‘Prof.’Dr Natarajan described these regulations as part of a corrective mechanism. “If we don’t police ourselves, outsiders will do it. Why should we allow someone from outside to regulate the profession? We decided to do this logically in association with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council,” he said.