Physiotherapist Dawn Tan with a patient at SGH. (ST Photo: Lim Wui Liang) By Lee Hui Chieh AS SINGAPORE’S population grows bigger and greyer, more physiotherapists will be needed. The current number means that one physiotherapist is shared by about 9,000 people here – a far cry from the ratio of 1:2,000 in Australia. Dr Celia Tan, who heads the Singapore Physiotherapy Association, said there is a

Older people are more likely to develop diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer, and to need rehabilitation.

Moves have already been made to train more new physiotherapists and retain existing ones.

Nanyang Polytechnic, the only institution here to formally train physiotherapists, increased the intake for its diploma course from 45 to 80 students this year.

Last year, physiotherapists working in the public health sector had their salaries raised by between 2 and 6 per cent.

The association hopes to do more to beef up the ranks of physiotherapists.

Dr Tan plans to offer postgraduate physiotherapy courses, and a conversion course to help diploma holders here upgrade to a degree at the Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) Postgraduate Allied Health Institute, where she serves as its director.

The association has written to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health to ask them to introduce a degree programme for physiotherapy here.

Currently, students need A-level passes in certain subjects to qualify for the polytechnic’s physiotherapy course, but obtain only a diploma after three years.

So some would rather pursue degree studies in other areas, Dr Tan said.

SGH physiotherapist Dawn Tan, for example, said that had she not received a scholarship for her undergraduate studies in London, she would probably have studied pharmacy here instead.

Having postgraduate courses here will also help physiotherapists who wish to further their training, she added.