De-affiliation on cards - Dental college to get three months to fulfil criteria

TT, Siliguri, June 20: The Dental Council of India has started the process of de-recognising North Bengal Dental College and Hospital as the institution failed to put in place the infrastructure that the council had recommended, sources have said.

As part of the de-recognition process, the dental college will be given three months to fulfil the DCI criteria, failing which the affiliation would be cancelled.

Sources in the West Bengal Dental Council - a statutory body constituted by the state government - said the decision had been taken at the governing body meeting of the DCI in New Delhi on June 12.

The DCI is the apex body that governs all private and government dental colleges in the country.

"We have information that the apex body has decided to start the process of de-recognising the institution on the grounds that it lacks infrastructure, faculty members and other employees. The DCI took the decision because the college failed to fulfil the criteria stipulated by its teams that visited the dental college in the past three years. The DCI has notified the Union ministry of health and family welfare . As per procedure, the ministry will send a letter to the state health department about the decision," said a WBDC member.

The NBDCH has a capacity of 50 students and offers bachelors degree in dental surgery, conservative dentistry, oral surgery, oral pathology, paedodontia, periodontics, prosthetics dentistry and orthodontia.

" As per procedures, the college will be served a notice and a period of around three months will be provided as the last opportunity to fulfil the DCI recommendations. If the college fails to do so, it will be de-recognised," the source said.

Doctors said admissions were being conducted for the 50 BDS seats, those who enrolled themselves might face problem if the college was de-recognised. The 250 students pursuing the five-year BDS course, however, will not be affected.

"If the DCI decides to withdraw the recognition, the college will not be allowed to teach BDS courses and those who take admission now will be in trouble. The new session starts in about three months. The new students have to be accommodated in other colleges," a doctor said. "The hospital will function even if the DCI withdraws recognition. But in the absence of fresh recruitments, the college will gradually shut down."

The college was set up in 1990 and was upgraded to a hospital in January 2012. The DCI teams had visited the college around six times since 2013 and made recommendations on indoor ward and major operation theatre and shortage of faculty and other staff among others. None of them have been fulfiled.

Recently, students, interns and junior doctors submitted a memorandum to principal Soumen Chakraborty asking him to fulfil the DCI criteria. "I am on medical leave and have not received any such information (on DCI's decision)," he said.

Sushanta Banerjee, the director of medical education, could not be contacted.

Bimalendu Saha, deputy secretary of state health department, said no official intimation has reached them from the the ministry. "We have not received any letter yet," he said.