The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has issued a directive stating that physiotherapists are not medical doctors and should not use the prefix “Dr.” before their names.
The clarification comes after the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) recently proposed a curriculum allowing physiotherapists to use “Dr.” as a prefix and “PT” as a suffix. DGHS emphasized that this could mislead the public and create confusion about medical qualifications, potentially leading to “quackery.”
While physiotherapy graduates and postgraduates may continue to use professional titles, they must ensure these titles do not imply they are licensed medical practitioners.
The DGHS directive aims to maintain clarity in healthcare qualifications and prevent any misunderstanding among patients regarding the roles and expertise of physiotherapists.