Dental Council of India (DCI), New Delhi, has brought out a proposal regarding five-year term for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme. According to the sources, the Council has asked Central Government to increase the term of the programme from four years to five.
As per the proposal, this duration will include a year of internship, similar to MBBS. President of DCI, Dr Dibyendu Mazumdar, had discussed about the proposal while speaking at the inaugural function of the All India Faculty Development Workshop for the specialty of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics in Chennai.
During his speech, Dr. Mazumdar said that the proposal will be circulated to the States and responses would be taken within 15 days' time. In addition, he said that the process will be materialized by August 4 and once again forwarded to the Centre for notification. The council is also hopeful of notifying about the proposal by the end of August, he added.
Furthermore, he also confirmed that once notified, the five-year programme would be implemented for BDS students in all States (other than two which already have a five-year programme). However, the term of teh course for the students going into the fourth year of study during the current academic year will remain the same.
