There is the fear that scores of aromatherapists, reflexologists and massage therapists will be put out of business if proposed changes to the registration of therapeutic health practitioners go ahead.
The Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) wants to petition the minister of health to change legislation so that the term “therapeutic” is removed from the names of the professions of aromatherapy, massage therapy and reflexology.
This means people in these fields would be known as practitioners. They would also have to register with the health council.
Tracy Chambers of the SA Association of Health and Skincare Professionals said this would influence the entire industry, as anyone wanting to practise reflexology or aromatherapy would have to comply with council regulations.
The council has said the reason for the change was to prevent people from practising as therapeutic therapists without registering with them.
Chambers said the distinction between therapeutic – meaning that it was used for healing – and non-therapeutic treatments was misleading, as both required the same knowledge.
Registered therapeutic practitioners would also be barred from offering treatment in any circumstances other than medical referrals.
“It impinges hugely on the industry,” Chambers said.
Gayl Hansen, director of the Cape Institute for Allied Health Studies, said the proposed changes did not look at the “bigger picture” of the need for basic skills at grassroots levels.
There is speculation that practitioners wanting to register with the AHPCSA would have to do a four-year degree – meaning they could practise on a clinical level.
“This is very short-sighted,” Hansen said.
She said the council needed to have multiple levels of entry and training in the health care industry so that therapists with basic training could still work in beauty salons.
Therapists with clinical training tended to work for themselves, not in a spa or beauty salon.
However, the non-registered therapist without clinical training, but with the skills to do reflexology or massage therapy, would be unable to practise.
Debbie Drake-Hoffmann, the registrar of the AHPCSA, said the change would not put therapists without clinical training out of business.
“On the contrary, if spas employed registered therapists it would ensure the public received standardised quality treatments.”
She said current legislation prevented council-registered practitioners from working for health spas or beauty salons, but the council was reviewing these regulations.
The deadline for comments on the AHPCSA’s proposed changes is July 31.
This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on June 19, 2008
