| Physical therapy education in Afghanistan began with the Physical Therapy Institute (PTI, then known as the Physiotherapy School of Kabul), started by the International Assistance Mission (IAM) with cooperation from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). The first physical therapy training center, both professional and technical in form, began in 1984 with a 2-year diploma course. The curriculum for these early classes was developed along the guidelines of a World Confederation for Physical Therapy education document with an emphasis on the specific needs of Afghanistan. A building was built by IAM in the compound of Wazir Akber Khan Hospital by the name of Physiotherapy school. This school is the first registered physiotherapy training center in Afghanistan. At the beginning of the school, all the teachers were expatriates because 24 years back in Afghanistan there were no professional physical therapists. In 1995 IAM started the first batch of teacher training for Afghan physical therapists. After completing this one year program in modules, in 1999 for the first time two of Afghani teachers from this program appointed (Aziz Ahmad "Adel" and Habibrahman "Habib") as the first Afghan physiotherapy teachers in this school. Gradually Afghaniteachers entered the program and replaced expatriates and in 2001 all the teachers in this school were trained Afghans. In 1990, a curriculum revision was completed by IAM and approved by the MoPH. It included goals for each subject and emphasized the basic sciences required by physical therapists, as well as the special skills required for their work. Over the years since then, many modifications were made in order to fulfill felt needs and changing educational requirements at the time. The 2-year curriculum at PTI was again revised in 2002 through a review process that included the MoPH, World Health Organization, International Medical Corps, PTI, International Committee of the Red Cross, and Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal. According to this 2-year physical therapy curriculum, 12th grade graduates were introduced through the Institute of Health sciences (IHS) and required to pass a special physical therapy entrance examination before beginning their education towards becoming a physical therapist. In 2003, all major rehabilitation stakeholders in Afghanistan agreed that a new educational program was required in order to improve the standards of patient care and to further the profession on the whole. Many thought that a four-year degree program would best serve the needs of Afghanistan, but after much discussion and debate, an agreement by all stakeholders was reached to implement a 3-year diploma program. It was felt that a 3-year curriculum would better suit the current state of the education and health care system in Afghanistan. A longer-term goal is to further develop this 3-year program into a 4-year baccalaureate-level physical therapy education. Currently this 3-year curriculum is a standard physiotherapy curriculum for Afghanistan. |
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