KARACHI, Feb 16: A committee/commission be constituted immediately to remove the problems facing dental education in the country. This was suggested by both the central council and Karachi branch of the Pakistan Dental Association at a seminar on Sunday.

The representatives of the association claimed that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had failed to monitor effectively the quality of dental education and training being imparted in the country. The Karachi chapter went to the extent of calling for a 10-year moratorium on opening of new dental colleges in Karachi.

The president of the central council even spelled out the guidelines for the setting up of the proposed commission. The commission should first of all identify the problems commonly encountered and then go on to suggest ways to tackle them, said Dr Kamran Vasfy.

Dr Mehmood Shah of the association’s Karachi branch, supporting the idea of such a committee, said the PMDC and his association should jointly monitor the post-graduate training programmes. He proposed that a system be invoked under which the public and private dental institutions could be graded according to the quality of their programmes and courses. He also spoke of shortage of teachers in this field, he added.

Several speakers at the seminar were of the view that the PMDC had created confusion in the area of medical and dental education. The College of Surgeons and Physicians was also criticized by the participants.

Dr Arif Alvi said that despite the shortage of teachers, several foreign-qualified doctors were denied the status of specialists. In this regard, he gave the examples of those having been trained in the United States, Malaysia and Turkey but denied an elevated status by the PMDC.

Dr Alvi was of the view that the PMDC’s mandate needed to be reviewed and re-evaluated. The council, in the past, had largely steered clear of ethical issues and had failed to take action against the physicians and surgeons involved in negligence or wrongdoing, he observed.

Dr Syeda Kauser Ali said trainees and tutors generally shied away from criticizing the CPS’s programmes. She said that the points raised during the seminar would be discussed thoroughly in her institutions.

She pointed out that the decisions pertaining to dental education were made by various experts who came from the doctors’ community. “It’s people like you who formulate our policies and rules and regulations,” she remarked.

Dr Baqar Askary suggested that all graduates be given a standard examination before they were registered as dentists. “This would bring forth the best of the graduates and the myth of low quality of education at private sector institutions would be settled once and for all,” he opined.