KUALA LUMPUR: There are fewer than 4,000 approved sports physiotherapists in the country, says Youth and Sports deputy minister Adam Adli Abd Halim.
He said that there were only 3,934 sports physiotherapists registered under the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council (MAHPC) as of Oct 31 this year.
“All of those registered have qualifications at either the Diploma, Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree level in physiotherapy which come from either a local public or private university.
“Of these, those working under the National Sports Institute (NSI) are also part of the Malaysia Physiotherapy Association,” he said.
He also revealed that the NSI currently employs 21 of these sports physiotherapists, of which 17 are senior and the other four are general physiotherapists.
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Adam was responding to a question from Siti Mastura Muhammad (PN-Kepala Batas) who asked for the number of certified and registered sports physiotherapists in the country.
Adam also reassured that the services provided by the sports physiotherapists under NSI are provided for free to national athletes that were registered under the institution.
“This also applies to up-and-coming youths taking part in athlete development programmes such as the National Football Development Plan (NFDP).
“The public may also make use of NSI sports physiotherapy services at prices ranging from RM30 to RM80 per session with complete packages averaging around RM2,000 per package,” he added.
It was reported in July that the ratio of physiotherapists in the country stands at one to 7,400 people, a number ‘significantly lower’ than in developed countries, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The National TVET Council chairman had said that TVET courses need to address this shortage to reduce the ratio to one physiotherapist for every 2,000.
