Otago University dental students voiced their outrage during a meeting last week after they were told they would have fewer clinics as a result of the ongoing planned demolition taking place within parts of the dental school.
One dental student attributed the cause of the inconvenience to the amount of toilets available being too few and therefore due to health and safety guidelines many clinics had to be cancelled. The student noted that clinics were closed for all Bachelor of Dental Health (BDH) students except final year BDH students; the student was unsure of the impact that the planned demolition was having on other students involved in the dental school.
According to several sources, the dean admitted knowing the news for at least a month, prompting questions over whether they could have alleviated the impact on students.
Clinics are an important part of a dental student’s education, as it introduces them to bedside manner and operating on patients over time, intensifying the process as they get closer to graduating. Therefore, not having as many clinics as usual may impact dental students, meaning they are less ready than they were in previous years.
One student, who provided comment on the assurance of anonymity, said that, “as the students pay for these clinic sessions through their tuition fees, it is not fair that we just have to miss them. Hopefully my clinic time is re-organised to catch up for the missed periods.”
“This demolition could have waited another two weeks until mid-semester break but they are only thinking about their own financial pockets.”
Another worry is not just lost clinical experience for the students, but also for patients who are waiting on treatment, whether that is first time treatment or an ongoing process.
The university was not able to give Critic a comment due to time constraints.