Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The office-bearers of the State Dental Council (SDC) opposed the National Dental Commission Bill that was tabled in the Lok Sabha recently.As per the Bill, there will be some major changes in the SDC.
Talking to this newspaper, SDC president Dr Narendra Kale said that one of the changes is that the SDC president would be appointed by the State Government against the present system of electing through Council members.
“This means that appointed will be more loyal to the Government than dentists in the state. In the Bill, one should be a postgraduate with a minimum of 20 years of experience, including teaching, to be eligible for the post of Council president. The representative of dentists (BDS), whose strength is the highest in the State, will not be able to become the council president anymore due to condition of academic experience,” he said.
Dr Kale feels that the imposition of academic criteria without any role in dental education is a mistake and nearly 95 per cent of dental health service in the state is provided by private dental clinics.
“The purpose for which the state dental council comes into existence will remain aside on denying the post of council president. As per the present Dentist Act, a Dean or Principal of the Dental colleges in the state are members of the SDC. It will be cancelled now. Instead of this, two representatives of Government Dental College or Hospital and two representatives of private dental college (need not be dean) will be appointed by the government,” he asserted. The SDC office-bearers also submitted a memorandum to the minister concerned and MPS.