Need for more dentists
The National, Thursday July 24th, 2014
By LEAH OMAE
MORE dentists and oral health facilities are needed to meet Papua New Guinea’s growing demands, Dr Mahmood Siddiqi, a senior lecturer in dentistry at the University of PNG Faculty of Health Sciences in Port Moresby said.
“To produce more dental specialists we need more training staff. Therefore dentistry curriculum needs to be modified to get more staff and improve the teaching standards,” Siddiqi said.
Siddiqi said it was a requirement from the board of medical faculty and the University of PNG that the curriculum set should be reviewed after five years.
“We have reviewed the old dentistry curriculum to see our weaknesses and strengths, and areas that needed improvements,” he said
We have come up with the new one that is set to be implemented soon”
Oral health, being the highly technical field that the dentistry division was getting students based on their interest of becoming a dentist.
“We have a five-year programme in the dentistry division,” Siddiqi said.
“We take a maximum of 15 students annually. We select them based on the required grade point average (GPA) after completing a year in science foundation at UPNG.
“They stream in year two and if having required or high GPA, they continue the fifth year and acquire a doctorate in the bachelor dental surgery programme.
“Those that couldn’t make it in year 3 are streamed to take bachelor oral health graduating as dental therapist, diploma in dental technology graduating as dental technician.
“So that we don’t lose students but to give them something that they will benefit,” he said.
The division has intervention visits of having qualified dentists or academics from Australia at the moment visiting weekly by providing lecture and training to students in their specialised areas.
“There are currently 60 graduates working in district and provincial government hospitals providing dental clinic to the people,”
“Three dentists are now attached with the PNG Defence Force.
“More trained dentists will need more facilities thus improving status of oral health in PNG,” Siddiqi said