KARACHI, Feb 7: There are only 5747 dental surgeons, including 326 with foreign qualifications, currently registered in Pakistan for 151 million people with 67 per cent of them living in rural areas.

This gives a dentist population ratio of one for 26,000 people, which is similar to some other countries of Eastern Mediterranean Region of the WHO, but contrasts sharply with western scenario, where dentist population ratio is one for 2,000. These statistics were reported in a study conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan.

According to province-wise data, Punjab has 2260 dental surgeons, Sindh 1973, NWFP 878, Balochistan 153 and Azad Jammu Kashmir 157 dental surgeons.

Only 366 of the total dental surgeons were registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, which gives a specialist population ratio of one for 409,836. Provincial break-up as per PMDC registration is Punjab 184, Sindh 88, NWFP 58, Balochistan 16 and Azad Jammu Kashmir has 17 dental specialists.

According to the WHO estimates, the dentist per capita figure in Pakistan is as low as 0.1 per 10,000 persons - one of the lowest in the world.

A CPSP official said that in order to reach an optimum population-dentist ratio, many more needed to be added to this force. "The type and number of specialists we need should be determined keeping in view the burden of dental illness as well as distribution of the population," he added.

"Our vision should not be just to consider this bleak position in the present time, but also to look for what to work for in the future. Pakistan's population for 2010 is projected to be 195.1 million. If the think tanks do not start working on a war footing from now, the dental health system may reach near collapse at that time," he added. -PPI