3-day dental exhibition comes to an end

Health minister says we must do more for dentistry students.

KARACHI: Although we have done a lot to improve the condition of dentistry education in the country, a lot more needs to be done, said Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed at the concluding session of the three-day Asian Dental Education and Research Congress at the Karachi Expo Centre on Sunday.

He said that students who qualify from dental colleges do not have too many opportunities for acquiring field experience and upgrading their technical expertise in the field of dentistry. Some progress had been made with the addition of new teaching institutions, he added.

The minister said that the dental problems are common because people use cheap toothbrushes and toothpaste. The use of gutka, mampuri and regular and excessive consumption of beef just makes things worse. Ahmed said that dentistry students would have benefitted by attending the congress for three days.

He said that the Sindh health department with the assistance of the private sector would organise another dental congress in 2012 and that congress would include all the stakeholders.

In response to organiser of the dental congress Dr Mehmood Haider’s suggestion for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence, the minister said that efforts would be made to include the plan in the fiscal budget 2011-12.

Earlier, experts in the field of dentistry, including Prof Dr Waqar Kazmi, Dr Arshi Farooqui, Dr Huma Qureshi and Dr Farzeen Tanveer, presented their research papers.

More than 1,000 delegates attended the congress while different stakeholders, dental colleges, dentistry appliances manufacturers and sellers had set up more than 100 stalls to display instruments and equipment at the Expo Centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.