March, 1963 P H Y S I O T H E R A P Y Page 3

E D I T O R I A L
The advancement o f Physiotherapy in South 

Africa is largely dependent on  the maintenance and 
establishment o f  Physiotherapy training centres. 
The three recognized schools, University o f  Wit- 
watersrand, Pretoria College o f  Physiotherapy and 
the School o f  Physiotherapy, Cape Town, have set 
a high standard which at all costs must be con ­
tinued.

In the near future interested authorities are anti­
cipating the opening o f  a fourth school at the 
National H ospital, Bloemfontein, staffed by a 
teacher trained at the Pretoria University and 
Pretoria College o f  Physiotherapy.

Two entirely non-white training schools are 
^planned, but these are being delayed ow ing to the 
acute shortage o f  teachers. One is to be at Barag- 
wanath and the other in Durban.

It is the earnest desire o f  the South African 
Society o f  Physiotherapy to train these non-white 
students for the same examinations as the white 
students, in order to keep up the standard o f 
physiotherapy for both sections o f  the community. 
Unless fully qualified teachers can be provided for 
these non-white students, their training will end in 
nothing more than physiotherapy aids, the dangers 
of which must be obvious to all persons interested 
in the progress o f  physiotherapy. The need for 
many non-white physiotherapists in the non-white 
hospitals, which are being opened up all over the 
country, and being staffed more and more by their 
own people, is tremendous. The availability o f 
sufficient people with the higher educational quali­
fications to take the Physiotherapy training recog­
nized by the South African Society o f  Physio­
therapy is necessarily limited. However we must

^endeavour to establish these schools, staff them ith fully trained teachers, and eventually produce 
~.ficient physiotherapists. Later non-whites could 
train as teachers and continue teaching in their own 
schools.

A ll this leads up to an acute shortage o f  teachers 
in South Africa.

Various teachers’ training courses have been run 
from time to time with a minimum number o f  
students. These have been quickly absorbed into 
the established schools, leaving no surplus to open 
new schools in other centres and the urgently 
needed non-white schools.

Teaching is a career o f w hich anyone can be 
justifiably proud. N o t only is one contributing to 
the developm ent o f the youth o f  the country, but 
also to the development o f  the profession o f 
Physiotherapy. In training schools is set the 
example for the whole o f the country. The gradu­
ates go out and work in non-teaching hospitals, 
both here and overseas, also in private practices, 
spreading the learning they have absorbed in their 
training school. With the facilities available at 
M edical Schools, there is scope for much research. 
A lso at the hospitals attached to the various train­
ing schools, physiotherapy teachers have wonderful 
opportunities o f  seeing the very latest developments 
in medicine and surgery, and are thus able to adapt 
and apply physiotherapy techniques to these 
developments.

Teaching on the other hand means lon g arduous 
hours o f  bookw ork, lecturing and corrections, all 
far removed from “ the patient” . Weigh up these 
points and see, for those physiotherapists with the 
right temperature, h ow  the one outweighs the 
other. N o t all people are born teachers, but 
am ongst trained physiotherapists there are many 
potentially very fine teachers who should be 
encouraged and assisted in every way possible to 
take the opportunities offered from time to time 
to fo llo w  in the footsteps o f  those who for many 
years have been leading physiotherapy along the 
highway o f  advancement in South Africa.

C o n t e n t s
Paraplegia—Its Physical Rehabilitation
Easter Stam p Campaign
Where There’s a  Will, T here’s a Way
Letters to the Editor
Physiotherapy Pilot Scheme
Notes on the Application of Wet I c e ..
General...................................................
Branch News ...........................
Post-Registration Courses 
Students’ Column 
Vacancies.

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