

VIJAYAWADA: The Physiotherapy Department of New Government General Hospital (GGH) celebrated International Physiotherapy Day on Monday with a series of events aimed at highlighting the growing importance of physiotherapy in healthcare.
The celebrations, held at the Siddhartha Medical College Sports Ground, included sports competitions for physiotherapists, quiz contests for internship students, and awareness sessions on advanced physiotherapy techniques conducted by senior experts. Winners of the sports events were felicitated with prizes.
A special programme was later organised at New GGH in the presence of heads of medical departments and hospital in-charges.
Physiotherapy Department In-charge Dr Kiran delivered a session on the importance of physiotherapy for patients, stressing its role in addressing lifestyle-related health issues across age groups.
Department Head Dr Anupama highlighted recent reforms, including the State Government’s decision to shift physiotherapy from the paramedical category to Allied Health Sciences and declare Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT) as the minimum qualification for government jobs. She noted that physiotherapists will soon be entitled to use the prefix “Doctor” before their names.
Orthopedics HOD Dr A Srinivas stressed that surgeons and physiotherapists share equal importance in patient care, and CS RMO Dr Padmavathi encouraged ongoing skill development among practitioners.