Karachi: The dental fraternity stands in unison against the low MDCAT admission criteria for dental students. In their attempt to maintain standard quality of education, the industry has penned down its concerns in five critical matters.
First and foremost, the leading academicians in the dental industry have appealed that the MDCAT admission criteria for BDS should be equal to that of MBBS. The dentists argue that the maintenance of the current admission criteria for BDS provides the depiction of dentists as a ‘Second Grade Health Care Profession’
Secondly, the academicians have requested that the 4-year program of Bachelors of Dental Surgery (BDS) be upgraded to a 5-year program of Doctor of Dental Surgery. This shall help evolve the quality of dental education by adding 7 different sub specialties of dentistry in the five-year course, thereby matching international standards of dental education.
Finally, the dental fraternity requests a separate dental council, catering to only dental students, an entity consisting of dental academics. Such a regulatory body must have equivalent standing to the existing PMDC/ PMC. The core objective of a council would be to discuss Dental Academics, Policy and Licensing matters.
The academicians have urged the Federal minister and the current PMDC/PMC president to reconsider the set admission protocols and to provide the field of dentistry and future dental practitioners, the space and ample opportunities, to have their concerns heard, and to grow, for the betterment of the fraternity, not only locally but internationally as well.