Move comes after complaints pour in of inappropriate conduct by expert team
When a dental college applies for permission, the Dental Council of India (DCI) sends an expert team to study various parameters including infrastructure and faculty members and files a report. The report will be the basis for the executive council to grant permission. However now, all inspection teams need to ensure that the proceedings are videographed and this will be the basis for the executive council to give its nod for both new colleges as well as an enhanced intake. With the council receiving a number of complaints over the expert team's conduct, videography has been made mandatory. The new rules have been incorporated in the latest DCI amendments, according to DCI's officiating secretary Col (retired) Dr S K Ojha.
The amendments also bring in a host of tough measures for inspection. "The inspection should be strictly confidential and the whole inspection should necessarily be videographed and also viewed by the executive council members. The council inspectors/visitors must sign an undertaking with regard to legal/criminal action against him/her if found indulging in any kind of corrupt practices. If any false affidavit is submitted by any faculty, action would be initiated for cancellation of his/her registration and legal/criminal action may also be initiated. The dental colleges should normally be given one opportunity for compliance in respect of their deficiencies. Doctors from defence services, those who are active teachers, should also be appointed as council's inspectors," the amendments mentioned.
The amendments were long due especially after the Comptroller and Auditor General Report of 2012 had opened up a can of worms on the DCI's functioning. The report had said that the DCI was required to undertake periodical inspections of colleges to ensure continued maintenance of minimum standards of dental education. However, the DCI had not put in place any system to identify the dental institutions which were due for such periodic inspections and thus couldn't conduct them in time.
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