The Association of Clinical and Academic Physiotherapy of Nigeria (ACAPN), has called on the Federal Government and the management of University of Port Harcourt to establish a Physiotherapy Department in the institution.
ACAPN said the association is a professional body comprising physiotherapists in the academia, hospital, sports centres, private hospitals and clinics to  manage and offer professional advice and treatment to the public.
National President of ACAPN, Prof Rufus  Adesoji Adedoyin, stated this to The Tide during an interview at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) yesterday, shortly after its  3rd Annual Conference and General meeting held in the hospital..
Prof Adedoyin, who decried the absence of a Physiotherapy Department in the South-South geo- political zone, said the department exists at the Iwo, Osun State, Ede, Osun State, Bowen University, Redeemer’s University and Envangel University, Akaeze, Ebonyi State, providing basic medical science studies to students..
Describing Physiotherapy as a critical and important aspect of medicine, the President said that the establishment of the department in Uniport would be a booster to the neighboring states such as Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom and would create employment to its teeming youths.
“Rivers State and Niger Delta communities need physiotherapists in its workplaces and hospitals”, he said.
The President, who doubles as the Dean, Basic Medical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- lfe, noted that over ninety per cent of physiotherapists in the state are non indigenes, describing it as an aberration.
He said ACAPN’s mission is to promote professionalism in physiotherapy with a view to enhancing accountability, atrusim, caring and excellence for members and clients.
According to him, has a crucial role to play in the society by providing basic medicine services in the hospitals

Prof Ugboma appealed to members to acquire knowledge and render basic services to the society, than exhibiting money consciousness.

Chinedu Wosu