J&K Dental Council calls on J&K Bank CMD

Jammu, May 11: Members of the J&K Dental Council today called on the Chairman and
Managing Director (CMD) J&K Bank Rajesh Kumar Chhibber, highlighting the difficulties
faced by them while navigating through the economic distress caused by the Covid-19
pandemic in the UT, requesting economic support measures for the dentist fraternity
especially the private practitioners.
The delegation comprising of Registrar J&K Dental Council Dr Ritesh Gupta, HOD OMDR Dr
Satvinder Singh and Lecturer Dental College Dr Bhanu Kotwal met the CMD at the bank’s
Zonal Office Jammu (Central I) and apprised him about the “difficult times” currently
faced by the dental practitioners.
“Our profession is one of the worst affected due to the pandemic. It requires close
physical proximity to treat a patient thereby increasing the chances of contracting the
Covid-19 infection. Also, the dental clinics require huge amount of money to set-up, run
and maintain plus the additional costs to fulfill SOPs for Covid-19. The total number of
dental surgeons in the UT is around 5000 out of which almost 3500 are unemployed and
solely depend upon private practice to sustain themselves”, the delegates highlighted,
adding that many dental practitioners simply do not have the reserves or cannot
accommodate the dramatic reduction of income due to the lockdown.
Putting forth their demands, the delegates requested the CMD to consider interest waiver
on existing loans availed by the practitioners, minimum maintenance accounts, and
support for upgrading dental clinics among other things.
Lending a patient ear to the problems faced by the dentist fraternity, the CMD while
assuring full support to them within the ambit of regulatory guidelines, underscored that
the bank has already in place a tailor-made loan product-J&K Bank Heath Plus Scheme-
devised to cater to the financial needs of healthcare professionals including dentists.
“We are proactively engaging with our stakeholders as well as representatives from
various sectors to devise resolution road-maps by soliciting feedback and suggestions. Bank
has already put in place high powered executive level committees headed by Executive
Presidents to interact with various economic strata and work out tailor made solutions to
overcome the challenges faced. It has always been our endeavor to understand the needs
of our customers and formulate products as per those needs. In today’s context, while we
are reeling with the pandemic, it becomes imperative to have at hand products and
schemes that cater to the financial needs of the people”, the CMD said, adding Bank has
already extended the moratorium on EMI and 10 pc additional facility in the working
capital limit of the J&K Bank Health Plus scheme.
The CMD also assured that other demands expressed by the delegation would also be
looked into in the ambit of the regulatory framework. The delegation expressed their
gratitude and thanked the CMD for providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to
Government Dental College Jammu to help safeguard them while discharging their duties.