Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, July 26: Years have passed, but Indira Gandhi Dental College and Hospital (IGDC&H) Jammu is yet to have full-fledged PG Dental courses, making it difficult for aspirants, especially those from Jammu, to go for higher studies.
The proposal for starting the courses is lying pending for last more than 3 years, with previous Government assuring that the courses will be started by 2018. More than a year has passed since then, but the proposal is yet to see the light of the day owing to the sluggishness of the college administration.
Few aspirants from Jammu told Excelsior that despite assurances given by the previous Government, there has been no substantial progress. They said that every year there are more than 1200 such aspirants, but due to the non-availability of MDS courses in Jammu, they end up pursuing their degrees outside.
“The college does not offer PG course, it is not something new, but it has been the same since the inception of the college; no steps were earlier taken to get the things done, and now they are being callous; former Health and Medical Education Minister Bali Bhagat had said that they will be starting the courses from 2018, but there were no admissions for the academic year 2018-19”, an aspirant said.
There is no dearth of infrastructure and specialized manpower in the College that could have proved to be a hurdle in getting the courses started. Earlier, the process was stalled due to the delay in drafting the proposal by the College administration and now there is un-necessary delay.
The Government Dental College (GDC), Srinagar is offering MDS courses in various specialties with a total intake capacity of 18. The IGDC&H Jammu will be getting 14 seats in various PG courses, if the process will gain any pace in the coming days.
Principal IGDC&H, Dr Romesh Singh told Excelsior that all the things have been done and they were waiting for the Dental Council of India (DCI) to conduct the inspection, which will pave way for them to start the PG courses in the college. “All the documents have been submitted and we are waiting for the inspection,” he said.
When asked if there was a set date given by the DCI for the inspection, he said that he does not know when the inspection will be carried out. “They have their own procedure that they will follow, we don’t know anything about it,” he said, adding that it is up to the Government when will they give a nod for PG courses to start. “We can’t question them,” he added.
An official privy to the development told Excelsior that there has not been a proper follow up of the process from the college administration. He said that they submitted documents and left it up to the DCI to decide. “Things do not work that way, the GDC Srinagar has, on the contrary, got things done well on time; their intake capacity was even enhanced recently,” he said.
Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Department Atal Dulloo told Excelsior that they are hopeful that the PG courses at the College will be started in January next year. “There is no dearth of anything, we are expecting the courses will be started in January, hopefully,” he said.
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