Coimbatore MP PR Natarajan in his letter has urged the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare to immediately intervene to protect the welfare of students.
Coimbatore: Students who have completed their undergraduate dental education are frustrated with not being able to pursue postgraduate education since they have not been given their dental completion certificate. Coimbatore MP PR Natarajan in his letter has urged the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare to immediately intervene to protect the welfare of students.
In a statement to the media, MP PR Natrajan stated that “The Dental Council of India has ordered the closing down of dental colleges on April 20th, 2020due to the threat of Covid-19 infection. Post that dental clinics were opened in January 2021. While the dental colleges were opened in November 2020.
Students who did their undergraduation in dental studies between 2015 and 2020 have completed their four-year course. The students have obtained the provisional certificates for this in 2019. This is followed by a one-year internship in medicine, for which the training began in September 2019.
The training period ended in September 2020. Meanwhile, dental clinics were closed in April due to the Covid -19 pandemic. This has now created a situation where students involved in training medicine are unable to obtain certification of completion of training.
Due to this they are unable to register as a dentist with the Dental Council of India and are unable to get accredited as a dentist or join hospitals. They are basically unable to provide medical care.
Meanwhile NEET entrance examination for the postgraduate dental course was held in December 2020 and the results were announced on December 31, 2020. Students are currently waiting for a counselling on a postgraduate medical course. In this situation, students who studied between 2015 and 2020 are not able to participate in the counselling as they have not received the certificate of completion of the training period.
Hundreds of undergraduate dental students are now unable to study postgraduate medicine. Meanwhile, the Dental Council of India has issued new announcements for students studying dentistry on 30.12.2020. But there are no announcements regarding trainee dental students.
There are multiple reports that many colleges are now forcing students to extend their training by word of mouth. This has resulted in the one year of a student’s time being wasted. Therefore, in the interest of dental students, Harshavardan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare should intervene and take swift actions.” He said.