Dentists oppose new dental colleges in Telangana

A proposal to start these colleges has come from the government dental college in Telangana, which is being viewed with scepticism by the Telangana Dentists Association.

A senior dentist said, “It is still at the proposal stage but there is already a lot of scepticism as the agitation by the Telangana Dentist Association has pointed out that there are more than 20,000 junior dentists who are struggling to find employment in the cities. They are also not able to start their own clinics because there are already 10,000 clinics existing in urban areas.”

Dr Priyanak Marthineni, a struggling dentist said, “Sixty per cent of girls take admission in dental colleges. Most of the women look for employment with senior dentists in small clinics in the beginning. But even after four to five years of experience there is very little benefit in terms of salaries.”

“To start a clinic requires at least '15 to '20 lakh for the dental chair and with tough competition some are just not able to survive. The government must look into all these aspects and not mislead the students as it is not fair,” she said.

Some of the junior dentists are very frustrated as despite their agitation in August 2015, there has been no respite or even a single hearing by the government of Telangana.

The doctors have been continuously trying to seek an appointment with the Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao but there is no response.

Dr Kiran Kumar Kranthi, another junior dentist said, “We want jobs in rural areas in the government establishment then the issues of safety, housing and other aspects can be taken care of.

For us, to go and settle in rural areas is not possible as we are not sure how it will work out. All of us have families and uprooting all of them will be quite cumbersome.”

Dr Rekha Kothari said “I was very good with colours and designs and after working for five years as a junior dentist, I realised that the payments and positions are not going to improve. I don’t have the resources to start a clinic on my own, so I decided to opt out. It is late but it is better than waiting and hoping that things will improve.”

Like her, many others have shifted to event management, e-commerce, software jobs and are exploring many other sectors where they can work and make a decent living.

Dr Devyani Reddy said, “We have worked so hard but now that we are out of college, we realise that the reality is different. Either we relocate to a far flung rural area and opt for practice or simply wholly opt out of this profession.”