Recently, the Maharashtra state government issued a Government Resolution (GR) which would provide locally established committees authority to take action against illegal dental prosthetics labs in the state. Out of 300 such illegal dental prosthetics labs, 150 operate in Mumbai alone.
As per the reports, between 1991 and 2003, the government issued four GRs to curb the illegal dental prosthetics labs in the state. While these regulations allowed local committees to be formed but they lacked authority to take action against the labs. Accordingly, the government has appointed committees at the municipal corporation and district levels.
The GR provides a mention of a 2016 hearing of the case filed by Maharashtra Dental Mechanics Association in the Bombay High Court. The decision by High Court were clear orders to the government to act against such bogus dental labs in the state. Alongside, as per the Dentists Act of 1948, only qualified technicians are allowed to run dental labs.
Welcoming the decision, Shailesh Gaikwad, Founder, and Master Technician, Dentofab said,
More than 1,000 dental laboratories in Maharashtra are run by the quacks (unauthorised people), who don't possess qualification and the DCI (Dental Council of India) registration. Every day, these individuals play with the oral hygiene of the people, unaware of these facts.”
He added,
“With the GR by State Govt. there are clear directions to the respective authorities to take action against these quacks, and even DCI is willing to take this steps further, which will help common people get better quality dental restorations in near future.”
However, on the other hand, the difficulty in the sector is that it suffers from a serious demand & supply mismatch. Amongst the 40,000+ dentists practicing in Maharashtra, only 900 qualified technicians are available for their dental prosthetics needs. The mismatch has led to the emergence of several illegal unqualified dental prosthetics labs.
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