Formal podiatry education in Central and South Asia is only beginning. Pakistan now has a full-length podiatric medicine degree and a university postgraduate certificate. India has a growing number of one-year diabetic foot and podiatry fellowships for doctors, plus short certificate courses, but we found no Indian bachelor’s degree in podiatry. We found no verified podiatry, chiropody or podology degree in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan. The tables below list only programmes we could verify on official institution pages. Each one is labelled clearly as a degree, a fellowship or a short course. Confirm intake, eligibility and recognition with the institution and the national regulator before you apply.
| Country | Institution and location | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | Ziauddin University, College of Podiatric Medicine, Clifton Campus, Karachi | Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM): 5-year undergraduate degree for science-stream school leavers. New programme, with fees published from the Fall 2026 semester. Confirm its national recognition and registration status before enrolling. This Pakistani DPM is not the same as a US DPM and does not by itself qualify you to practise in the USA. |
| Pakistan | Dow University of Health Sciences (Dow Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), Karachi | Post Graduate Certificate Course in Podiatric Medicine: 1 year, 30 credit hours, evening programme |
Ziauddin describes its college as Pakistan’s only accredited podiatric medical school (zcpm.zu.edu.pk). However, its pages do not name the accrediting body, so check its status directly with the university and the relevant Pakistani authorities. The Dow certificate is a short postgraduate qualification, not a full podiatry degree.
Diabetic foot fellowships and short courses in Central and South Asia
Most foot-related training in the region is diabetic foot training for doctors, nurses and allied staff. These programmes are valuable, but they are fellowships or short courses, not podiatry degrees, and they do not lead to podiatry registration in countries that regulate the profession.
| Country | Institution and location | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| India | Malla Reddy Vishwavidyapeeth, Hyderabad, Telangana | Fellowship in Podiatry (Diabetic Foot): 1 year. For doctors with an MBBS plus an MD or DNB in general medicine, general surgery or orthopaedics. |
| India | Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala | Fellowship in Diabetic Foot: 1 year, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes. For surgeons with an MS in general surgery or orthopaedics, or equivalent. |
| India | Christian Medical College, Department of Endocrinology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu | Diabetes Foot Care & Footwear Training Programme: a 4-day short course for doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, now expanded into a hybrid Global Diabetes Foot Training Programme |
| India | Chellaram Diabetes Institute with the Public Health Foundation of India, Pune (online) | Certificate Course in Diabetic Foot Management: a 6-month, self-paced online short course for doctors, endorsed by Leicester Diabetes Centre (UK) |
| India | Medvarsity, Hyderabad (online) | Certificate Course in Diabetic Footcare: a 3-month online short course for registered healthcare professionals |
Elsewhere in the region, foot care capacity has mostly been built through donor-funded programmes, not schools. In Pakistan, the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology trained foot care teams of a doctor and a nurse through the “Step by Step” short-course model (worlddiabetesfoundation.org). The Bangladesh Podiatry Society was founded in 2024 and says it has trained hundreds of clinicians in diabetic foot care (diabeticfootonline.com). In Kyrgyzstan, NGOs and the World Diabetes Foundation have trained doctors and nurses in foot care because the country has no certified podiatrists (worlddiabetesfoundation.org). We could not verify any formal podiatry programme in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. Students from these countries who want a full podiatry qualification usually study abroad, typically in the UK, Australia, Malta or Spain. If you know of a programme we have missed, please tell us so we can verify it and add it.