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Qualification requirements for Hong Kong dentists ‘not arbitrarily imposed’, council says
- Watchdog hits back at criticism from University of Hong Kong’s former dean of dental faculty over clinical training requirements
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Changes in qualification requirements for Hong Kong dental students were “not unilaterally or arbitrarily imposed”, the profession’s watchdog insisted on Thursday.
The Dental Council of Hong Kong bit back after criticism by the former dean of the city’s only dentistry school.
The council said in a four-page statement that it wanted to “clarify the facts and set the record straight” to maintain public confidence in the city’s dental profession.
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“[The] requirements of clinical experience are not unilaterally or arbitrarily imposed by the council, but rather were developed in consultation with the faculty,” it explained.
The council added that the process took into account overseas literature, experience and accreditation rules in a variety of jurisdictions, as well as the design of the Hong Kong curriculum, to “ensure the requirements would be achievable”.
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The council spoke out after Professor Thomas Flemmig, the recently-retired dean of the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) dentistry faculty, said in an interview with the Post that quantitative requirements imposed in 2019 were not backed by evidence and failed to reflect graduates’ competencies.
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