JAMMU, APRIL 22 : Former president of Indian Dental Association of Jammu chapter, Dr Gautam Sharma has asked for a financial package on terms of one provided to the advocates by the J&K Government.
J&K has become the first state in the country where such a relief package has been provided to the financially distressed young advocates whose livelihoods have been severely hit due to the national lockdown owing to Coronavirus pandemic.
Providing the minimum financial assistance to young advocates and advocates in distress, the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to Jawad Ahmad, Registrar General, J&K High Court.
It is believed that the livelihood of private practicing and unemployed dentists is also hit in J&K due to the lockdown.
Dr. Sharma said that private dental practitioners who were solely dependent on their income from the dental clinics are worst hit due to lockdown but they have to pay the rent of their clinics, salary to employees, pending bills and loans from the bank.
Sharma said that in dentistry, most of the procedures produce aerosols. “If a Corona virus carrier comes for treatment to a dental clinic then no level of precaution can stop splatter of saliva and aerosol production if scaling, cavity preparation with air rotor, use of reduction hand-piece or any other aerosol producing procedure is undertaken. The surfaces and the walls of the clinic will get infected and will expose dentist, clinic staff and all the following patients to the risk of getting infected with corona virus. Hence it would be very difficult for dentists to undertake any procedure in patient’s oral cavity some months even after the lockdown is lifted” Dr Sharma said.
He urged the J&K government to take this as a special case for private practicing dentists and provide a financial package on similar terms as has been extended to the advocates in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We hope the Govt of UT will respond effectively and timely. It is the need of the hour. The dental surgeons need to be allowed priority to get good quality PPE as fakes are being supplied by many, hand sanitizes and also good quality N95 masks to allow to handle emergencies as well as non aersol dental work. The governor should also ask the DC’s to allow e pass to the dental surgeons and their assistants (50% staff at a time) to ensure the cleanliness, disinfection and maintenance of clinic equipment ( similar to maintenance of cars – running and movement)” Dr Sharma highlighted.
He stressed that these measures will go a long way to disallow deterioration of clinical equipment. “This AID should be implemented across the country and for all private dental clinics. We are not just responsible for out families but also our employees and their dependents. If we don’t earn how long can we sustain to pay rents, salaries and day to day expenses for people dependent on us ? he questioned.
