Services

Occupational Therapy Services In Bangladesh

Last Updated:
18/04/2005

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Occupational therapy is a health care profession, which provides services to people whose ability to function in daily life, has been disrupted. In terms of occupational therapy, the word occupation refers to not only a person's job, but to any activities that a person completes in his/her daily life. This includes all activities from getting up and brushing one's teeth in the morning to cooking meals, using a computer, or in the case of children, playing and going to school. All illnesses, physical and psychiatric, disabilities and injuries, have the potential to interfere with a person's ability to complete his/her daily activities. Occupational therapists use purposeful activities, therapeutic exercises, special equipment, skills training and environmental modifications to maximise a person's ability to attain independence in these everyday living tasks.

Due to the infancy of the Occupational Therapy profession in Bangladesh, there are limited Occupational Therapy services currently available. The only established Occupational Therapy department in Bangladesh can be found at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP). CRP was founded in 1979 by an English physiotherapist named Valerie Taylor. CRP is a large rehabilitation centre, which provides services for people with disabilities around Bangladesh through four subcentres. For more information on CRP, you can visit the CRP website at www.crp-bangladesh.org . CRP provides many different services for the disabled people of Bangladesh. The services where Occupational Therapists work are listed below:

The Mother and Child Care Unit - a multidisciplinary unit providing services for children with cerebral palsy, autism, Downs syndrome and other developmental disabilities.

Inpatient service - CRP has a 100 bed hospital for spinal cord injured patients. The service includes a half way hostel where patients stay prior to discharge to learn how to cope with their disability in activities of daily life.

Special seating clinic - A clinic dedicated in providing special seating for children with disabilities.

The role of occupational therapists in each of these settings in outlined below:

The Mother and Child Care Unit

	Assisting children with disabilities to be reintegrated into mainstream schools
	Acting as advocates for children with disabilities and their parents / carers
	Educating carers about behavioural modification techniques for children with behavioural problems
	Using sensory integration techniques to facilitate normal sensory development
	Providing assistive devices to help children become more independent in daily living tasks
	Educating parents / careers about appropriate positioning for children with disabilities

Indoor service

There are 4 stages in which Occupational Therapists work to make the patients independent as much as possible. Stages are:

Acute Phase: In this phase

Occupational Therapists work to maintain the Joint ROM and to maintain and increase the muscle strength.
Occupational Therapists also work on positioning of the patient and make the patient prepare for the

Active Phase: In this phase

Occupational Therapist started the bed mobility with the patient
Also started to transfer the patient form bed to chair and chair to bed.
At the same time make the patient more stable, concern with muscle strength and balance.
Patients also come to the department for Hand Therapy,

Rehabilitation Phase: In this phase

Patients introduced with new techniques to do their ADL independently
Occupational Therapists provide the patient splints and other assistive devices for making their ADL more easy
Wheel chair mobility training also started, to make the patient more mobile.
Patients also come to the department for Hand Therapy.
Vocational assessment.

Community Reintegration Phase: In this phase

Follow up Patients activities of daily livings.
Advanced Wheel chair training.
Send the patients for vocational training.
Out Door Service:

Occupational therapist treats the patient as out door basis:

Therapists assist the patients to reintegrate in their daily livings activities.
Use of various types of assistive devices.
Assess the patient for vocational training.
Educating careers about appropriate positioning for patients with various disabilities.
Use of various types of treatment approach to make the patient physically able as much as possible.
Providing hand therapy following various activities as a treatment medium.

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