Abstract
Occupational Therapy is critically underdeveloped in many developing countries in Asia. There are many internal and external barriers to the growth of the profession, including lack of willpower and lack of professional representation in the government. This article aims to communicate the postulations for its stagnation across developing countries in Asia. An analytical reflection and historical review of the barriers to the growth of occupational therapy in Malaysia was conducted. Leaders in the field who met the inclusion criteria, collaborated to shape the reconstructions using an occupational reconstruction approach. The reconstruction guided key critical reflections on the roots of daily experiences to relive the cooperative action to problem solve the issues encountered by the profession in Malaysia. Medical hegemony was found as the active suppressor of the health professions, and can be seen as being beyond reproach in the Asian’s medical model that created occupational injustices. These occupational injustices hinder the growth of Occupational Therapy, do not serve the patients, science or the overall healthcare system. Autocratic governance has a debilitating impact on health sciences and its workforce especially around badly oppressed Asian countries. A greater systematic approach is needed to examine the extent, effect, problem solve and remediate the magnitude of injustices over the last decade—to make way for an inclusive and affordable care system.
Highlights
Having health sciences under the influence and governance of hegemonic masters is fundamentally not serving science at its best [1]
“Medical hegemony has positioned itself beyond criticism and reproach from nondoctors and has created an elitism that does not serve the individual patients” ([1], p. 7), and has resulted in the sciences other than medicine to look for access to direct, equitable and affordable healthcare
Despite many medical practitioners having a vague or non-existent idea of Occupational Therapy [5] [6] [7] [8], the peculiar reorganisation and take-over of newer therapy professions by a group of rehabilitation doctors across Asia is upsetting its science-based foundation, and going against international development of health professions. Such overbearing medical power has been highlighted as an entrenched negative feature of health care [9], and medical establishments have been criticized as a threat to health where its disabling impact of professional control has reached the proportions of an epidemic [10] but the phenomenon is replayed across Asia
Summary
Having health sciences under the influence and governance of hegemonic masters is fundamentally not serving science at its best [1]. Despite many medical practitioners having a vague or non-existent idea of Occupational Therapy [5] [6] [7] [8], the peculiar reorganisation and take-over of newer therapy professions by a group of rehabilitation doctors across Asia is upsetting its science-based foundation, and going against international development of health professions Such overbearing medical power has been highlighted as an entrenched negative feature of health care [9], and medical establishments have been criticized as a threat to health where its disabling impact of professional control has reached the proportions of an epidemic [10] but the phenomenon is replayed across Asia. There are many rationales as to why OT is never under the hegemony master of rehabilitation doctors, and three rationales against it will be highlighted below
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
