SRINAGAR: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Tuesday expressed concern over poor oral-dental care facilities across hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded job package for the unemployed dental surgeons.
Doctors Association Kashmir fully supports the indefinite strike by unemployed Dental Surgeons which is going on both at Jammu and Srinagar for more than a week but requested them to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour while during protests.
President DAK, Dr Mohd Yusuf Tak said keeping in view the increasing number of patients in the specialty of oral health care, lack of human power and infrastructure, it is high time to create new posts for dental surgeons across the union territory. He said poor people are forced to consult quacks for dental ailments as successive authorities failed to upgrade the said specialty in terms of human resources and infrastructure.
“It is unfortunate that Public Service Commission (PSC) has not advertised any post of dental surgeons for last 13 years which has created a huge gap in doctor-patient ratio, unemployment and consequent brain drain,” he said.
DAK said that the number of unemployed dental surgeons in Jammu and Kashmir has reached to more than 4000 and they are facing stress.
Dr Owais H Dar, General secretary DAK said that the lackadaisical approach of successive governments to upgrade dental health care is responsible for Hepatitis B & C cases in J&K saying that people are forced to consult quacks. “The patients have no option in the public sector and they fall in the trap of quacks, where they usually get infected with a life-threatening disease like hepatitis,” he said.
Dr Dar said many of the unemployed dental surgeons have crossed the age limit and many are taking anti-depressants due to lack of job opportunities.
DAK demanded that the health department should take this issue seriously and announce job package for unemployed dental surgeons. New dental surgeon posts need to be created at PHC level, New Type PHC level and existing sub-District Hospitals must have at least 3 Dental Surgeon posts while as District level hospitals need to have at least 7 dental surgeon posts.
It appealed the authorities of the National Health Mission (NHM) to come forward and absorb the unemployed dental surgeons at larger level primarily at block levels and in other oral health programmes.
DAK requested Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha led administration to take cognizance of the matter and take appropriate measures for creation of dental surgeon posts and upgradation dental infrastructure in hospitals.
