One year internship mandatory for dental students
Now all undergraduate dental students would have to undergo a one-year-internship before getting their BDS degree. This has become mandatory for them.
It is for the first time that the internship will also include a three-month compulsory rural posting. The re-introduction of a one-year rotational, compulsory and paid internship in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course has been approved by the Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad.
The duration of course will be of four years with an additional one-year internship. Though the new norm is going to be implemented from this academic year (2011-12), but it is also applicable for batches admitted in the 2008-09 session.
The Dental Council of India (DCI), in 2007, had made the BDS degree a five-year regular course and had dropped the need for any hands-on training with patients. The reason behind this step was the lack of seriousness among the students.
A ministry official said, "Students on completion of a four-year theoretical BDS course will have to undertake the year-long clinical programme.” This is almost same as that done by the Medical Council of India (MCI) with the revised MBBS curriculum.
It was also considered that most of the dental colleges in India are private. So majority of students wouldn't attend the internship and there were chances of obtaining a fake certificate by them. Moreover in the final year there were nine subjects which led to great pressure on the students. So BDS was made a five-year course without internship. But now it is felt that internship is an important part of the training.
The order by Union health ministry stated, "The revised BDS course — 3rd Amendment Regulations, 2011 — also incorporate three months of compulsory rural attachment. All parts of internship will be done in a dental college duly recognized/approved by Dental Council of India for the purpose of imparting education to dental graduates in the country."
Source: The Times of India
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