6 November 2018 11:23 am
He was addressing the media after an award ceremony for ‘Dental Awards - 2018’ organised for the first time to honour and recognise those in the dental profession in the country.
The ceremony was held at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre yesterday.
“There are more than 3,000 dentists who were registered with the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) but about 2,500 dentists are active,” he said.
“Those bogus dentists were not real doctors but they were the people who assisted for dental doctors. Real doctors are the people who were registered with the SLMC with a displayed registered number.
“Even the registered number was printed on their prescriptions to state that they are qualified doctors,” Dr Cooray said.
He said the quack dentists could also display a number to claim that they were also registered with the SLMC.
“The best way to check was to check their names through the SLMC. There was no other way to identify them.
“It is very hard to capture those bogus dentists and to take legal actions against them.
“Patients have to come to Police stations to make complaints and go to courts against them.
Several patients come to us with severe consequences after being treated by these quacks,”
“Patients complain that they cannot go to courts and waste their time and money. Our association advises people to be aware of these quacks,” he said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)