Mangaluru : The Dental Council of India is proposing a three-year bridge course in MBBS for BDS graduates in a bid to enable them to provide both medical and oral health care in rural areas.

Talking to reporters here on Friday, Dental Council of India (DCI) President Dibyendu Mazumdar said there was a shortage of medical professionals in rural areas. A good number of BDS graduates come out every year. These graduates had already been trained in many aspects of treatment during their five-year course. With a further three-year MBBS course these graduates can meet the requirement of medical professionals in rural areas, he said.

At the inaugural ceremony of Karnataka State Dental Conference on Friday, DCI Vice President Y. Bharath Shetty said the Council was considering use of the massive resource of health professionals for rural health care. “The Medical Council of India might have opposition (for the bridge course) as we will be entering in their domain,” he said. The curriculum will be framed and passed in the general body of the DCI before submitting it to the Government, he added.

Dr. Mazumdar said the DCI has proposed changes in the curriculum for the BDS and MDS courses that were awaiting approval of the Government. The new BDS course with nine subjects would cover aspects namely basic and advance life support mechanisms. In the third year of the new BDS course, subjects related to forensic medicine will be studied. The DCI was proposing to increase the number of professors and staff.

Dr. Mazumdar said the DCI has made rural service compulsory for the BDS graduates. Of the one year internship period, the BDS graduates have to work for three months in a rural area. The DCI was closely monitoring it and action was proposed against colleges that are not making arrangements for rural service.

The conference was organised by the Indian Dental Association’s Dakshina Kannada Branch. The organisers felicitated A.M.C. Saldanha, an old dentist practicing in Mangaluru.