The Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife has sentenced a man for practicing physiotherapy in a center in the capital "without having an academic degree for it and without being registered in the corresponding professional association." The ruling establishes that this man must pay a fine of 4,500 euros and also closes the center where this man, R.P.V., practiced.
Specifically, Justice has condemned this fake physiotherapist for a crime of intrusion. R.P.V. accepted the Prosecutor's request at the hearing, admitting the facts and reaching an agreement to impose a fine of 3 months, at a rate of 50 euros per day, and the closure of the center. Thus, the sentence is final and no appeal is possible against it.
The College of Physiotherapists of the Canary Islands especially emphasizes that the case has been carried out through criminal and not administrative channels, "considering this a crime" and recall that this "is the second time that a court has criminally condemned a fake professional for a crime of intrusion." "We want to convey to the population that carrying out activities typical of a physiotherapist without being one is a serious crime of a criminal nature, far from those who consider it a matter of corporatism or defense of collegiate interests," they emphasize.
"Physiotherapy is regulated, demand the registration number"
They thus insist that this sentence comes to "support the fight that has been carried out against intrusion" from this body, and "it is recalled that physiotherapy is a profession regulated by an official university training degree, and for whose exercise the physiotherapist, as a health professional, must be registered in a professional association."
Thus, the College of Physiotherapists makes a "call to the population", so that they "always demand to be treated by a physiotherapist, requesting their registration number, mandatory for professional practice, and also verify that the center is duly authorized by the Accreditation Service of Centers of the Canarian Health Service."