THIS refers to news item ‘Medical education being updated to internationally accepted standards’ (Feb 17). The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) have rightly decided to upgrade medical and dental curriculum on a par with international standards.

In the light of findings of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) research study, it was found 42.86pc of respondents indicated that the curriculum did not give effective knowledge with respect to occupational health and safety in case of mercury hazards and 90.48pc of the respondents felt the dental curriculum should be reinforced with respect to mercury poisoning and guidelines and technologies for mercury/mercury amalgam waste minimisation at source.

With the rising public and environmental concerns of mercury amalgam, we hope that the PMDC and HEC would ensure that the inclusion of relevant contents in the revised dental curriculum, such as toxicity/health hazards due to mercury/mercury amalgam use, protective measures for minimal mercury exposure, occupational health and safety and guidelines for environmentally sound waste management for mercury/mercury amalgam be addressed to enable future dental professionals to carry out safe dental practices.

Sadaf Nawaz

Islamabad

Published in Dawn March 3rd , 2015

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