Hundreds of dentists in Jammu and Kashmir face chronic unemployment due to repeated delays in job creation.
Despite a shortage of dentists in both urban and rural hospitals, no new dentist posts have been created in the region for the past 17 years, leaving many professionals with Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) degrees struggling to find public sector employment.
Dr. Rahul Koul, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Dental Association, noted that the Public Service Commission has not created a single dentist post since 2008.
Currently, over 8,000 dental graduates in the region are unemployed due to the government’s failure to provide them with relevant employment opportunities.
“The government has remained silent on this plight for over a decade, with no real progress,” Dr. Koul stated.
Unemployed dentists admit that the lack of job security is discouraging young students from pursuing dentistry, and some are even forced to abandon their careers. To alleviate this situation, they have repeatedly called on the government to create dental specialist and consultant-level positions, but to no avail.
A health department official acknowledged a severe shortage of dentists in public hospitals, while high private sector costs have made it unaffordable for most patients, leading them to seek lower-quality treatment, increasing their health risks. However, hospitals claim there are currently no confirmed dental vacancies.
Recently, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education sent a letter to the heads of health services in Kashmir and Jammu, stating that proposals to establish dental positions had been repeatedly rejected by the finance department, primarily due to duplicate job listings and failure to strictly adhere to relevant financial rules.
The department has instructed the relevant agencies to revise the proposals as soon as possible, in accordance with the General Financial Rules, 2017, and relevant Ministry of Finance circulars, for further approval.
On July 24, the Jammu Health Services Directorate requested the Chief Medical Officer of Jammu state to provide a list of medical institutions where dental positions should be established, so that appropriate planning can be carried out.
As early as August 2023, the Dental Education Section of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also issued a circular to the health and medical education departments in the region, alerting them to the continued rise in dental unemployment and urging them to take concrete measures to address the issue.
Despite repeated official attention, the employment problem of dentists in Jammu and Kashmir remains unresolved, and the career development of thousands of professionals and the quality of regional oral health services face severe challenges.
