SAMBALPUR: Shortage of specialised dentists and infrastructure in the Department of Dental Surgery of VIMSAR has left the patients struggling for quality services. Around 20 to 50 patients visit the department with different complaints every day. The patients, mostly from Western Odisha and parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are largely dependent on the department which is ill-equipped to meet the rush.
The department has eight dentists - three MDS and five BDS qualified but are not specialised in all streams of surgeries as a result patients are forced to opt for treatment at private clinics. The private clinics in Sambalpur, charge anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 for scaling and Rs 700 to Rs 800 for filling while the rest of the services are priced even more highly.
Head of Department of Dental Surgery Dr Anup Satpathy said, “There are nine specialisations in dental sciences and each of them requires specialist doctors. Though we have eight doctors, they are not specialised in all special surgeries. These services could only have been provided if there was a dedicated dental college at VIMSAR.”
“We are capable of providing specialised services but it is beyond our protocol and not ethical to perform these surgeries without a higher degree of specialisation,” said Dr Satpathy. With an effort to push for the dental college, the then Director of VIMSAR Dr Ashwini Pujhari had sent a proposal to the State Government in 2017 seeking permission to start a Dental college.
The proposal was sent simultaneously to State Government for its approval and to the Dental Council of India for getting NOC. However, the proposal was rejected as Dental Council of India had sought a moratorium on starting new dental college because of the shortage of qualified teaching faculty in existing colleges.
Meanwhile, as the demand for specialised dental services are being felt, many locals and social group are also demanding the establishment of a dedicated study and research wing for dental sciences for the greater interest of the people.