ExclusiveEx-head of Hong Kong dentistry school hits back at watchdog amid row over student training
- Professor Thomas Flemmig, newly retired dean of HKU’s dentistry school, says pandemic made students’ clinical training tougher than ever
Professor Thomas Flemmig, dean of the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of dentistry for the past 10 years until Sunday, also revealed in an exclusive interview with the Post before retiring that the Covid-19 pandemic had made students’ clinical training more difficult than before.
Officials said the proposed change was to address concerns raised by the Dental Council of Hong Kong, which flagged “structural problems” with clinical training in HKU’s bachelor of dental surgery programme, according to accreditation reports issued in 2014, 2019 and 2023.
“It’s just very sad to see that the negative publicity is tarnishing the reputation of an institution that has clearly become world renowned,” Flemmig said on Friday.
The council accused some students of having “severely inadequate” clinical experience and “zero experience” in certain dental procedures.