Approximately 600 posts of dentists are lying vacant across 34 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The Provincial Doctors Association, in a letter, sent to the government claimed that in 2016, there were 317 dentists for a population of 29.6 million in K-P. In addition to these there were only 15 specialists in the newly merged districts, meaning one dental surgeon for 93,375 people. They also cited examples of how there is one dentist for 1.5 million people in Africa while one for 2,000 people in developed countries.
“There are 600 sanctioned posts of dental surgeons lying vacant across the province and there is a dearth of medics due to Covid-19 across the globe. Fortunately, the province has a large number of dental surgeons who can fill the space and overcome the shortage by performing their duty with ENT surgeons as they are also an expert in gross head and neck anatomy. So, the deployment of dental surgeons can help lessen the burden on general health system in K-P,” stated the letter sent to the government by PDA.
PDA has also demanded a raise in the salaries of doctors, taking into account the current trend of inflation across the country. They alleged they were being deprived of adhoc allowance which was not acceptable under any circumstance.
“Doctors should also be paid Corona risk allowance like the rest of the country and they should also be paid adhoc allowance for 2019 as well as 25 per cent adhoc allowance for 2020 and 2021,” said the information secretary of PDA Dr Saleem.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2021.
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