PRESTIGIOUS medical universities are attracting overwhelming crowds of medical students for MBBS every year. Each student wants to become an MBBS doctor. My question to all medical students is: why don’t they opt for BDS (dentistry)? Why don’t they think it is a reputable profession?

In other countries it is considered a most respectable job, so why not in Pakistan? According to reports, there is only one dentist for 10,000 patients in Karachi.

Each university admits more than 100 students for MBBS; but for BDS, hardly 50 students and that too because they do not get admission in MBBS.

A few of the parents also discourage their children to take dentistry as their career. They rather force them to go for MBBS studies, probably because after MBBS the number of specialisation fields is greater as compared to BDS.

That may not be true. Dentistry allows graduates of BDS to start practice with reasonable remuneration, which may not be the case for an MBBS without postgraduation.

Thus, a large number of MBBS graduates end up taking other professions after completing their studies and not getting a respectable living in their area of specialisation.

ALIZEY SHAHID    Karachi