The Paramedical and Physiotherapy Central Councils Bill 2007, which has already created some disputes over the definition of physiotherapy and caused a rift among different medical professionals, is likely to be passed in the coming Parliament Session beginning from October 17.

The Parliamentary Standing committee for Health and Family Welfare, which has been examining the bill since last December, has completed its sittings and adopted the draft report to be tabled in the House. The final sitting of the panel, headed by Amar Singh, was held on September 30 to consider and adopt the report, sources said.

However, it is not yet clear whether the panel would go by demand of physiotherapists to put them on par with doctors and making physiotherapy a separate system of medicine. Intense lobbying has been reportedly done by the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP) to push this demand while a larger section in the medical fraternity opposed it and health ministry is learnt to have expressed apprehension over the proposal.

The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabh on December 4 and was referred to the committee on December 27 last year, aims to set up central councils for lab technicians, physiotherapists and occupational therapists with a view to regulate the sector as a number of institutions to train these personnel were on the increase in recent years. To begin with, it is proposed to set up separate councils for medical laboratory technicians, radiology technicians and physiotherapists and occupational therapists for maintenance of uniform standards of education in the respective disciplines and registration of qualified personnel for practising the profession. These bodies will be named as the Physiotherapy Central Council, the Paramedical (Medical Laboratory Technology) Central Council, and the Paramedical (Radiology Technology) Central Council.

The para-medical community, under the aegis of National Public Health Alliance, has been pressing for an early passage of the bill. "This Bill is also required to restrict the mushrooming of private institutions which are running exclusively on commercial interests without any laid down scientific standards and which are least concerned about the well-being of the people," said a spokesman of the Alliance.

However, bill caused some ripples in the medical circles following reports that the parliamentary panel may back the claim of physiotherapists to provide diagnosis and prognosis for medical problems and make it an independent system of medicine. Most of the questions sent to the health ministry officials by the panel were on this particular point of redefining the profession to pave way for 'equivalence to the medical doctor', sources said.

Though the government cleared a bill to set up an omnibus apex body for all allied paramedical professionals in September 2004, later it was redrafted to set up three separate councils after the physiotherapists' lobby mounted pressure against being clubbed with others. It also gave up the idea of allowing medical specialties to have a say in the regulation of their paramedical disciplines.