Sir,
It is sad that in J&K and also in India, Dental surgery is neglected by the Governments. When an innocent student wants to become a doctor, he has to pass NEET exam for MBBS. If he gets some less marks then he has no choice than to choose BDS instead of MBBS. From this point his or her bad luck starts. Every year thousands of jobs are advertised for MBBS but for BDS not a single job is advertised. In our State, in 2008, few jobs were advertised. Now after a decade not a single job of dental surgeon has been advertised. Even in private sector, there is no job. After wasting 6-7 golden years, a dental graduate realises that he has cut his own feet with his own hands. A BDS graduate has a tag of doctor but actually his position is very precarious.
In our State there are more than 3000 D. Surgeons unemployed. My question is why Govt should not close dental colleges in the State if it has no job for them so that an innocent young student does not spoil his/her life. It is surprising that there is Directorate of Health, Directorate of Ayush but there is no Directorate of Dental Surgery to lookafter the problems of this department. This is also a great reason that nobody highlights the necessity of oral health of a person to the higher authority and also the Govt. has no time to think about this profession.
Even in civil services exams, there are about 40 subjects to choose for main exams such as MBBS, engineering, maths, english etc but there is no subject of dental surgery. A dental surgeon is only a Dr Sahib with empty pockets.
In my view no parents should send his children in the dental colleges where after spending 6-7 years, his future goes to complete darkness.
Sudhir Kapoor
on e-mail