Agartala, Mar 24 (UNI) The Dental Council of India (DCI) has approved the Tripura government's start of the Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) programme in the Agartala Government Dental College (AGDC), said Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.

“Though I am the Chief Minister, I didn’t forget my roots as a dental surgeon. I have no hesitation to confess that there is a desperate need to improve the health service further. We bring a major change in the service delivery system. We had never thought of opening a dental college, but we did it”, he said.

Dr Saha underlined, “I tried a lot during the left-front regime before 2018, but they rejected it because I didn’t belong to them. I worked hard for the dental college, and now we have opened it. The old style of practice in dentistry has ended, and we are now using new technologies to provide the best treatment.”

He mentioned that the number of oral cancer patients in the Northeast is very high due to the consumption of betel nuts and tobacco. The state government has been working on arranging a mobile van for dental treatment. For dental infrastructure, Rs. 200 crore was sanctioned under the PM DevINE project.

The government has a plan to increase seat capacities in the medical colleges and the expansion of medical education and service with proper plans, Dr Saha said and added, “We have introduced super speciality services – kidney transplants have already started, and liver transplants will be started soon.”

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