Introduction And Role Of Allied Healthcare Professionals In India

Here we provide introduction of various Allied Healthcare professionals in India. Profiles, roles and the list of allied healthcare professionals given in this article are strictly as per Allied Healthcare Professions Bill.
Allied healthcare professionals have a very important role to play from primary healthcare to emergency support. Proper recognition and Regulation was the need of hour.  The Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill 2018 is a step in that direction.
Definition according to The Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill 2018.
“Allied health professional includes an associate, technician or technologist who is trained to perform any technical and practical task to support diagnosis and treatment of illness, disease, injury or impairment, and to support implementation of any healthcare treatment and referral plan, recommended by a medical, nursing or any other healthcare professional, and, who has obtained any qualification of diploma or degree under this Act, the duration of which shall not be less than two thousand hours.”
Allied health care professionals are distinct from nursing, Medicine and Pharmacy.

List Of Allied Healthcare Professionals

The allied healthcare professionals are put into 15 categories.

Life Science Professional

Life Science Professional is a person who has knowledge of application of research on human and other life forms, their interactions with each other and the environment, to develop new knowledge, and solve human health and environmental problems and who works in diverse fields such as bacteriology, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, pharmacology, toxicology and virology and who collect, analyse and evaluate the experimental and field data to identify and develop new processes and techniques among others.

Trauma and Burn Care Professional 

Trauma and Burn care professional is a person who provides advisory, diagnostic, curative and preventive medical services more limited in scope and complexity than those carried out by a medical doctor including emergency and burn care technologist who work autonomously, or with limited supervision of medical doctors and apply advanced clinical procedures for treating and preventing injuries and other physical impairments.

Physiotherapy Professional

Physiotherapy professional is a person who practices physiotherapy by undertaking comprehensive examination and appropriate investigation, provides treatment and advice to any persons preparatory to or for the purpose of or in connection with movement or functional dysfunction, malfunction, disorder, disability, healing and pain from trauma and disease, using physical modalities including exercise, mobilisation, manipulations, electrical and thermal agents and other electro therapeutics (i) Biotechnologist (ii) Biochemist (nonclinical) (iii) Cell Geneticist (iv) Microbiologist (non-clinical) (v) Molecular Biologist (non-clinical) (vi) Molecular Geneticist (vii) Environment Protection Officer (viii) Ecologist (ix) Biomedical Engineer (x) Medical Equipment Technologist (xi) Occupational Health and Safety Officer (Inspector) (i) Burn Care Technologist (ii) Emergency Medical Technologist (Paramedic) (iii) Advance Care Paramedic Physiotherapist 2133 2149 3211 3257 2240 2264 21 3258 2240 2131 2131 2131 2131 2131 2131 2133 22 (1) (2) (3) (4) for prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, health promotion and fitness. The physiotherapist can practice independently or as a part of a multi-disciplinary team and has a minimum qualification of a baccalaureate degree

Nutrition Science Professional 

Nutrition Science Professional is a person who follows a scientific process to assess, plan and implement programs to enhance the impact of food and nutrition on health, promote good health, prevent and treat disease to optimize the health of individuals, groups, communities and populations as well as on human health with training in food and nutritional science, nutrition, dietetics.

Ophthalmic Sciences Professional 

Ophthalmic Sciences Professional is a person who studies eye, related ailments and specialises in the management of disorders of eye and visual system, limited in scope and complexity as performed by a medical doctor having Optometrists with a minimum of four years of baccalaureate degree and Ophthalmic assistants with a minimum of a two years diploma program in Ophthalmic Sciences.

Occupational Therapy Professional

Occupational therapy professional is a person who delivers client-centred services concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life, which includes professionals such as Occupational therapists who achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement.

Behavioural Health Sciences Professional

Behavioural Health Science Professional is a person who undertakes scientific study of the emotions, behaviours and biology relating to a person’s mental well-being, their ability to function in everyday life and their concept of self. ‘‘Behavioural health’’ is the preferred term to ‘‘mental health’’ and includes professionals such as counsellors, analysts, psychologists, educators and support workers, who provide counselling, therapy and mediation services to (i) Dietician (including Clinical Dietician, Food Service Dietician) (ii) Nutritionist (including Public Health Nutritionist, Sports Nutritionist) (i) Optometrist (ii) Ophthalmic Assistant (i) Occupational Therapist (ii) Movement Therapist (including Art, Dance and Movement Therapist or Recreational Therapist) (iii) Podiatrist (i) Psychologist (Except Clinical Psychologist covered under RCI for PWD) (ii) Behavioural Analyst (iii) Integrated Behavior Health Counsel (iv) Health Educator including Disease Counsellors, Diabetes Educators, Lactation Consultants 2265 2265 2267 3256 2269 2269 2269 2634 2635 2635 2635 23 individuals, families, groups and communities in response to social and personal difficulties.

Primary, Community and other Miscellaneous Care Professional 

Primary and Community Care Professional is a person who provides health education, referral and follow up, case management and basic preventive health care and home visiting services to specific communities at field level and provides support and assistance to individuals and families in navigating the health and social services system and establish a referral network.

Medical Radiology, Imaging and Therapeutic Technology Professional

Medical imaging and therapeutic equipment technology professionals include persons who tests and operate radiographic, ultrasound and other medical imaging equipment to produce images of body structures for the diagnosis and treatment of injury, disease and other impairments or administers radiation treatments and monitor patients’ conditions with training in medical technology, radiology, sonography, mammography, nuclear medical technology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Dosimetry or radiotherapy, under the supervision of a radiologist or other medical professional.

Medical Laboratory Sciences Professional

Medical and pathology laboratory professional is a person who performs clinical test on specimens of bodily fluids and tissues in order to get information about the health of a patient or cause of death and having formal training in medical laboratory technology or related field, which includes testing and operating equipment such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters and flame photometers for analysis of biological material including blood, urine and spinal fluid.

Health and Information Management Professional 

Health and information management professional is a person who develops, implements and assesses the health record processing, storage and retrieval systems in medical facilities and other health care settings to meet the legal, professional, ethical and administrative records-keeping requirements of health services delivery and processes, maintains, compiles and reports patient information for health requirements and standards in a manner consistent with the healthcare industry’s numerical coding system.

Physician Associate or Physician Assistant 

Physician Associate or Physician Assistant is a person who performs basic clinical and administrative tasks to support patient care and is trained in a medical model such that he is qualified and competent to perform preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic services with physician supervision.

Cardio-vascular, Neuroscience and Pulmonary Technology Professional

Cardio-vascular, Neuroscience and Pulmonary Technology Professionals include those persons who have studied and have thorough understanding of respiratory, neurological and circulatory system and also the ability to operate complex equipments related therein and includes professionals such as Perfusionist, Cardiovascular technologist, respiratory technologist and Sleep lab technologists.

Renal Technology Professional 

Renal technology professional is a person who deals with dialysis therapy process and technology to ensure an effective dialysis therapy to the patient and includes professionals such as Dialysis Therapy Technologists having baccalaureate degree who operate and maintain an artificial kidney machine, following approved methods.

Surgical and Anaesthesia-related Technology Professional

Surgical and anaesthesia-related technology professional is a person who is a member of a multidisciplinary team in the operation theatres, who prepares and maintains an operating theatre, assists the anaesthetist and surgical team during peri-operative period and provides support to patients in the recovery room and the main role includes the setup, check, and maintains anaesthesia equipment, preparation of operation room and table, management of the central sterile services department functions, assistance in emergency situations and disaster preparedness and support of the surgeons and anaesthetists in any other related clinical area.
The information provided above taken from bill, clarify the government official position on the status of allied healthcare professionals in India.
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