He said Malaysia now had 2,720 dentists, 3,780 short of the desired figure.
"At the ministry, only 890 vacancies or 57 per cent of positions available for dentists had been filled," he told a press conference after opening the 27th Asia Pacific Dental Congress at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here.
He said the shortage was due to declining interest in dentistry.
Chua said there were 1,873 dental clinics throughout the country, 20 mobile clinics and 276 teams on the move to provide dental services to the people, including in rural areas.
He said the mobile clincs had helped provide increased oral health coverage for Malaysians, especially schoolchildren, where for primary school it was 91 per cent and secondary schools 94 per cent.
Urban areas were well covered by the private sector, he added.
More than 1,500 dental professionals from over 28 countries are attending the five-day congress.
-- BERNAMA
The country needs 6500 dentists but have only 2720, ie 41.8% of its requirements. The MOH has 1560 dental doctor positions on it sestablishment but only 890 are filled, ie there are 670 vacancies or 43% of iits establishment is unfilled. So what is our Higher Edu MINIster doing? Is he setting up more seats for dental undergraduates in our tertiary instituitions? The MOH, Datuk Dr Chua says the shortages are due to declining interest in dentistry. Of course, looking down smelly oral cavities is not a glamorous professional option but then again there are even worse places. There are so much new developments in dentistry and dental aesthetics, just look around there are so many with the pearly smiles and a show of braces! Knowing that each year there are overflowing demand made by those seeking doctoring seats in our IPTAs, the MOH and the MOE could work hand-in-hand and divert some of these students from medical doctoring to dental doctoring. So lets wait and see the MOOH will act to overcome this dentist shortage.
1 comment:
CAN INDIAN DENTIST WORK THERE?
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