Sheila Purves: 4,000 Movement Therapists Needed in Mongolia

Sheila Purves, a Canadian citizen, was honored with the “Outstanding Social Protection Worker” award by the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Protection. The award was presented by L. Munkhzul, the State Secretary of the Ministry.

 

Sheila Purves has been working in Mongolia since 2011, specializing in movement therapy and rehabilitation. Over the years, she has initiated and implemented various projects aimed at enhancing the skills of rehabilitation professionals and training human resources in the field. She has also played a significant role in expanding international cooperation within the rehabilitation sector.

 

Purves highlighted the shortage of qualified professionals in the field, noting that while prosthetics and orthopedics are distinct scientific fields, Mongolia faces a shortage of trained movement therapists, prosthetists, and orthopedic engineers. She stressed that the working conditions for these professionals are suboptimal, which negatively impacts the quality of prosthetic products. Purves further emphasized the importance of keeping up with international technological advancements in the creation of prosthetic limbs.

 

She has worked with the Mongolian Society for Physical Rehabilitation, the Mongolian Association of Occupational Therapists, and faculty members of the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (MNUMS) to improve physical therapy and rehabilitation services. Her efforts have also extended to enhancing postnatal training environments for mothers, as shared by MNUMS faculty.

 

Recent studies indicate that Mongolia requires 4,000 movement therapists and 2,500 occupational therapists. However, there are currently only about 300 movement therapists and 50 occupational therapists in the labor market. Furthermore, the country lacks speech therapists, although the Department of Physical Rehabilitation at MNUMS has started offering a speech therapy program since last autumn. With an aging population, the demand for occupational and movement therapy specialists continues to grow.