Advocating for the Dental Council of India to Integrate Social Accountability Standards into National Accreditation Standards for Dental Colleges

Abstract

The Dental Council of India recommends a syllabus for dental schools with a specified number of hours for theory and practical /clinical classes. It recommends the number and qualification of faculty requirements of the dental colleges for undergraduate/postgraduate students. It also recommends infrastructure requirements in terms of equipment availability in dental school clinics, classroom requirements, etc. It also recommends the minimum number of patient inflow in colleges required to run an undergraduate/postgraduate program successfully. The accreditation standards set by the Dental Council of India broadly look at education processes, faculty strength, infrastructure, and resources in terms of patient numbers available at Indian dental colleges.

However, the evidence required for these processes does not look into the quality of those activities. It currently has no provision to measure the impact of these processes on key stakeholders (i.e., the students and community). This need to focus on the impact that dental schools have on their key stakeholders stems from the rising dental healthcare needs of the country. 

There is a lack of equitable distribution of the health professional workforce in the country, with ever-increasing demands on the healthcare system. The complexity of healthcare delivery increases as we look to integrate all healthcare servicesand move away from its currently siloed nature. A part of the endeavor to ensure the availability of quality healthcare is to benchmark our education system and focus on developing competent health professionals who contribute to alleviating societal healthcare problems. In addition, the contribution of dental colleges in providing quality healthcare to society cannot be overlooked. With over 329 dental colleges in India, the potential of healthcare services provided by these institutions can significantly contribute to community healthcare needs.      

The World Health Organization defined Social Accountability in medical schools as “the obligation to direct their education, research, and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region, and/or nation they have the mandate to serve.” The Dental Council of India has the responsibility and opportunity to ensure the alignment of the dental educational processes and dental college initiatives with societal healthcare needs and must include the concept of social accountability.