Occupational therapy in India has been developing since 1950. Regulation of the practice is by the individual states.
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History
Dr. (Mrs.) Kamla V. Nimbkar [nee Elizabeth Lundy] is credited to have founded Occupational Therapy in India and Asia in 1950. Mrs. Nimbkar had obtained a degree of B.A. in Economics/ Statistics from Columbia University. Before becoming an occupational therapist, she was a social activist. She became interested in occupational therapy after she came across an article by Miss Helen Willard,an occupational therapist in the US. She then went to United States, & enrolled in the occupational Therapy programme at Philadelphia school of Occupational Therapy. After attaining her degree she came back to India and worked in K.E.M. Hospital.In 1950, under her leadership, K.E.M. Hospital started the first occupational therapy school in India. Mrs. Nimbkar retired in 1957 from the Occupational Therapy School at KEM Hospital, Bombay.
Modern India
Occupational Therapy is a major emerging healthcare profession in India and the rest of the world. The entry to practice in India is via a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy of four and half years duration (including a six-month compulsory internship). Admission to recognized professional programmes is usually through common entrance tests followed by interviews. Each university may set their own entrance requirements. However, one must have passed the 12th class (senior secondary school) with physics, biology and chemistry prior to being admitted to the bachelor's programme.
Post-graduate certificates, diplomas and master's degrees are available in various specializations of occupational therapy such as general rehabilitation, orthopedics, neuro-rehabilitation, pediatrics, disability management, research, mental health, etc. Opportunities for doctorate programmes also exists in a few universities.
Major institutes of Occupational Therapy in India
A few well-known institutes that run BOT courses in India are as follows
- National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
- All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Haji Ali, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- NIRTAR, Cuttack, Odisha, India
- Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Institute for Physically Handicapped, Delhi
- JKKMMRF College of Occupational therapy, Tamil Nadu
- School of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal, Karnataka, India
- Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Parel East, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Topiwala National Medical College and BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Christian Medical College, Vellore
- Government Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
- KMCH College of Occupational Therapy, Coimbatore
- Dr. D. Y. Patil College of Occupational Therapy, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Dr. D. Y. Patil College of Occupational Therapy, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India
- School Of Occupational Therapy, Faculty Of allied health science, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi
- Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Jaipur Occupational Therapy College & Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad
- Indore Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
- Ahmedabad Institute of Medical Sciences, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
- SRM College of Occupational Therapy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
- NIMS University, Shobha Nagar, Jaipur-303121 [1]
Regulating body
In India, there is no central council which governs occupational therapy. The national body which self-governs/ represents occupational therapy in India is AIOTA, (All India Occupational Therapists' Association). Delhi Council of Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists and Maharashtra Council of Occupational and Physiotherapists that regulate the profession in the respective states.