School Of Prosthetics & Orthotics

The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed, popularly known as CRP, is a non-profit national organisation founded in 1979 in response to the desperate need for rehabilitation services for People with Disabilities. CRP is responding to the needs of Persons with Disabilities by delivering comprehensive rehabilitation services to the poor with free of cost or subsidized as much as possible with donors support through treatment, training, education, employment, accessibility, advocacy and awareness rising in the community. In addition to treatment, training and comprehensive rehabilitation services, CRP offers a high standard of education Programme in Bangladesh Health Professions Institute (BHPI) (The academic institute of CRP) where CRP offers Masters, Graduate and Diploma Courses in different faculties including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Radiology and Imaging etc.

Bangladesh is a developing country with more than 150 Million people where there is enormous need of prosthetic and orthotic devices. Again there are very few centres providing prosthetic and orthotic devices to cater the existing needs. Moreover we have no provision of educational opportunity for prosthetics and orthotics field in Bangladesh which is essential to develop professionals for providing Prosthesis and Orthosis services to the people. CRP has a strong commitment to education and believes that training plays a vital role in the health care services in Bangladesh. The need for a proper school for prosthetics and orthotics was long felt. The Savar Rana Plaza Tragedy further exposed the need.

The Prosthetics and Orthotics School is being set up within the existing functional structure of BHPI- CRP. National health profession’s educational requirement are be complied with the Programme The three years long diploma in Prosthetics and Orthotics Programme has been started at BHPI (Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, an academic institute of CRP) from February 2014.10 (Ten) students already started their classes from 12th of March of 2014. After the successful completion of this course the 10 students will be graduated in 2017 and continuously each year 10 students will be graduated.

At present CRP is working with ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), GIZ (The Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH), and Mobility India, SriLanka School of Prosthetics and Orthotics and The Cambodian Trust for the development of Prosthetics and Orthotics in Bangladesh. The expert foreign faculty already selected in cooperation with them. They are Mr. KIM Song Bo from Cambodia & Mr. Nkhoma Samuel from Zambia. Their salaries & other expenditure is fully sponsored by Primark.

They have indicated for Prosthetics and Orthotics training support like training laboratory, raw materials and library facilities. Establishment of an orthotics & prosthetics school within BHPI, in its premise is a continuation of CRP’s initiatives in developing skilled professionals in health care service for Persons with Disabilities.