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WB to get 2 more Dental Colleges

West Bengal is set to get two more dental colleges. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal Chief Minister, said recently, "We are planning to set up two state-run dental colleges." He said this after laying the foundation stone of an annexe building of Dr R Ahmed Dental College & Hospital in Kolkata, recently. Dr R Ahmed Dental College & Hospital is the oldest dental college in South-east Asia. Bhattacharjee said there was a need to increase seats for postgraduate dental students.

A proposal will be given to the Dental Council of India (DCI) for increasing postgraduate seats from the present strength of 14 to 30, said Dr Surya Kanta Misra, the State's Health & Family Welfare Minister.

"At present, there are only two dental colleges in Bengal, whereas there are 22 private and Government-run dental colleges in Kerala. So there is need for more dental medical colleges in the state. We are also inviting private entrepreneurs into this sector," he added. A major constraint to the setting up of dental colleges was paucity of quality teachers, said Misra.

"Since there are only 14 postgraduate seats, the number of teachers is low," he added. Anil Kohli, President, DCI, who was present on the occasion, said that the State should immediately apply for more postgraduate seats.

Meanwhile, the State Government has alloted five acres to Dr R Ahmed Dental College where the new annexe building will be set up at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore. The building comes in the wake of the recent decision to increase the present strength of the undergraduate seats of the College from 50 to 100, after almost five decades.

EH News Bureau