PESHAWAR: A multi-purpose seven-storey building was opened to patients on Tuesday at the Khyber College of Dentistry (KCD). Chairman Policy Board Prof Dr. Zia-ul-Islam and Chairman Board of Governors of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Khyber Medical College (KMC), and KCD, Prof Nadeem Khawar inaugurated the newly built building.
Dean KCD Prof Dr. Syed Nasir Shah briefed the guests about the past and present of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first and oldest public sector dental college.
Faculty members, including KMC Dean Prof Dr Mahmud Aurangzeb, Dean KCD Prof Dr. Syed Nasir Shah, Hospital Director KTH, Dr Mohammad Zafar Afridi, Medical Director KTH, Prof Dr. Mohammad Ayaz Khan and all heads of departments of KCD were present there.
Dr Nasir Shah said being the largest dental hospital of the province, KCD always had space problems, both for the departments and patients.He said with the new building made operational it will double the patient catering capacity.
The basement of the new building has a daycare center, IT, library, masjid, store, two lecture theatres, offices, and dental laboratories. Different departments including prosthodontics, three clinical departments, basic sciences block, a multi-purpose hall having the facility of a skill lab, dental education, a center for practical examination, and a separate purpose-built examination and conference hall are accommodated in the new building.
Most of the departments in KCD have postgraduate training programmes. Prosthodontics Department has presently 34 trainee medical officers.
According to the dean, the college and hospital didn’t have their own radiology facilities. A private party had installed an X-ray machine under public-private partnership for three years and the owner of the machine was influential and refused to vacate the building when the college decided to install its own machine.
He said it had become a difficult task for them to get the building vacated and that it took them nine years to get back the space.
Similarly, Dr Nasir Shah said the college and hospital didn’t have their own lab, saying patients used to be referred to private laboratories. He said they had established their own laboratory providing the necessary investigations to patients.
Like other departments, KCD’s paediatric dentistry department, headed by Prof Dr Hashim Khan, is offering services to the children suffering from dental diseases.
The KCD dean also spoke about present problems and future challenges. He said KCD had started the institution-based private practice that needed more space and resources for staff. He said they had also stopped recruitment and procurement due to a ban by the caretaker government on new recruitment and recruitment.
Prof Dr Ziaul Islam who attended the event as the chief guest, recalled how KCD evolved from a department of dentistry in KMC established in two rooms into a full-pledged college of dentistry.
“I still remember when we were studying in KMC in 1962, the department of dentistry was set up in two rooms. KCD was then established and it began its journey from 14 students,” he recalled, adding he was happy to see KCD having the best available facilities, skilled faculty providing quality education as well as services to the patients.
Also, he said it was very encouraging that most of the departments have been recognised by the College of Physicians and Surgeons for the postgraduate training. And the college was having a good number of postgraduate trainees.
Prof Ziaul Islam noted that getting a bachelor degree in dentistry was presently less costly but had become quite profitable. Prof Dr Nadeem Khawar praised the KCD administration and employees for efforts to improve dental care and quality of education.
