Early in 2020, the East African Medical and Dental Practitioners Council communicated to Uganda Christian University (UCU) a number of requirements for continued accreditation. Creation of a School of Dentistry independent from the UCU School of Medicine was one such condition that has now been met. The University appointed Dr. James Magara, a dental practitioner since 1988, as its Dean. Some of the content for the interview with the new dean was compiled in December 2020.  

By John Semakula 

What is your professional background?
I was in the pioneer class of dentistry at Makerere University and served as a teacher there in addition to being a dentist. 

What is the staff and student status of the UCU School of Dentistry?
Our plan initially was to incubate the School of Dentistry in the School of Medicine so we admitted students for the two courses at the same time. This worked because there are some common subjects for the two groups of students in the first two and a half years. They are basic and clinical subjects, which they (medical/surgical and dental students) do together. In the third year, the dental students branch out to do purely dental subjects. The students’ numbers are still small because the license we have only allows us to admit 10 students every year. In the first lot, there are nine students and in the second, they are seven. This coming year, as a separate School of Dentistry, there should be a full lot of 10. We also have a number of staff but because the pure dental subjects have not yet started, we are in the process of deploying a full-scale dental staff.

How is the School of Dentistry recruiting and retaining qualified dental staff?
For one, we are working with our partners abroad but the regulatory authority requires that you must have people in-country. We are considering running a post-graduate program so that we generate our own specialists. Once this happens, we don’t have to keep sending staff abroad for training as we can address the problem here. 

What is learning like in the COVID pandemic lockdown?
The first class, which is in third year, should be starting fulltime engagement with the pure dental subjects, but there has been a bit of destruction this year (2020) because of the COVID-19 lockdown and the eventual closure of the University by the government to mitigate the spread of the virus. We are resolving that, and we should be engaging our students in third year. They should begin their clinicals now. 

What does it mean to have an Independent School of Dentistry?
This is really good news for us. This is what we wanted from the beginning but the University wanted to delay the process as Makerere did in the beginning as its School of Dentistry was originally incubated within the School of Medicine. When we had the inspectors from the East African Medical Council visit us early this year, they insisted that the two schools should be separated and the University has successfully done this. I think this is the best situation that can happen to the future of dentistry in this country.  UCU has started much better, and I think that this will give room for growth and Ugandans should look forward to a very robust dentistry program.  

When do you plan to increase the students’ enrollment from the cap of 10?
I cannot make a statement on that, but the training of dentists is very expensive. It’s important that we have our feet firmly on the ground before we think of increasing enrollment.  

What are some of the challenges the School faces?
There are certain challenges with any pioneering group. Dentistry is capital intensive in terms of asset investments for the first 5-10 years. At the beginning, you have got to make sure that there is equipment and materials – basically getting the systems going. The other challenge is that we do not have enough trained dentists in this country so you find that when it comes to experts or specialists needed to train students, the country doesn’t have enough of them.  

Why should a student study dentistry at UCU?
First, the University has a strong commitment to ensure that students have very good exposure to modern dentistry. Second, the UCU Faculty of Dentistry’s teaching hospital has a very long history of teaching medical practitioners in Uganda. The University has a partnership with Mengo Hospital, which has a dental unit that has been running for over 40 years now; this unit has trained dentists with internships throughout Uganda. It is recognized as the premium place to go for hands-on dental studies.  

What is the ratio of qualified dentists to patients in Uganda?
I don’t have the figure off the top of my head but the number of dentists in Uganda is still very small. The qualified dentists in the country could be about 400 trained over time. We are not actually keeping up the number of dentists being trained compared to the population growth rate.  (According to an August 2019 article in the Daily Monitor, quoting the Uganda Dental Association, there is one dentist for every 142,000 Ugandans.  This compares to 60 dentists per 100,000 people in the United States.)

How has COVID-19 impacted on the training of dentists and practice in Uganda?
Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we were locked down and the restrictions that were put in place by government to make sure that the spread of COVID-19 is curtailed have made sure that our university was closed. This has been a very big challenge in terms of teaching but also dentistry is a very practical course, which you can’t teach and practice without meeting people and touching them. This has raised very serious infection controls and questions that have not yet been fully answered. 

What are the overall challenges of training dentists in Uganda?
One is the cost of equipment.  Dentistry is a very practical course that you cannot train just theoretically. You need to have materials, and all these are imported. The second major challenge is training personnel. Thankfully, there is a lot that can happen in our digital age in terms of getting resources from elsewhere. 

How expensive is it to run a dental school in Uganda?
I don’t have exact figures but just think about the fact that apart from the tuition that students pay, you have got to buy materials and equipment that are all imported. Some of these can stay for a while while others are consumables and don’t stay for so long. Those things add to the cost of training a dentist. I also can say that the amount of fees that students pay for these courses are supplemented if you consider what it costs to train a dentist or a doctor. 

How is the job market for graduates of Bachelor of Dental Medicine in Uganda?
We are in a situation now where our population is moving more away from eating the natural foods. There is a lot more consumption of refined foods and sugars, which are creating a crisis of dental health in the country. But it is not as widely known as other life-threatening conditions.  I can therefore predict that the demand for dentists in Uganda is just going to continue growing beside the fact that the population is also growing. It outstrips the rate at which dental professions are being trained. So, the demand is there that anyone who sets up a good quality practice will be able to do well and anyone working in government hospitals will have a lot of work. 

The East African Medical and Dental Practitioners Council early in 2020 placed certain requirements on the UCU School of Medicine. What are some of the things the University did to comply with the Council’s conditions?
One of the things was to separate the School of Dentistry from the School of Medicine, and that has happened. The council was also very keen to see that the School of Dentistry is well equipped, which also is being addressed, plus staffing. UCU has actually done what was being required of it, and that is why our accreditation was continued.  

The Faculty is receiving dental equipment donated from the USA to boost training of students. Who is donating the equipment?
At the moment, we have firm commitment from an organization called Midmark in the United States donating dental chairs, and we are very grateful for them. These are very good quality chairs, which are on their way already. We do have UCU Partners in the United States; that organization is coordinating this arrangement. They also helped us get some chairs from China. This is critical and very foundational for any kind of dental school so we are very grateful. They have a very big heart to help UCU or parts of the world that are not well resourced as where they are.  

What is the financial value of the equipment?
I have not seen the figures yet but about the dental chairs, we are talking about tens of thousands of dollars. Especially those from the United States. It was a very generous donation.

How is the equipment going to help in training the dental students?
It’s foundational. Dentists have to be trained with equipment. I travel to parts of the country and someone tells me that we have a dental problem. I can see it and I know what to do but without the tools, I cannot do anything so having the equipment is very critical. Without them you can’t train a dentist. 

Do you have another word to the people who gave UCU the equipment?
We have a lot of heartfelt gratitude that the donors were able to see this need and also saw it fit to respond to it. When you train a doctor, you have actually invested in a lot of lives because that doctor if well trained will go on to work for a few more decades. They are going to save so many lives. So, this is what I see here–the people who have given so generously have sowed into the future for our children who are going to train. They will be treating our growing population and not only here. Such students end up serving different parts of the world and that is how those who have contributed will be rewarded. May the Lord richly bless them. 

What are some of the future plans for the UCU School of Dentistry?
We need to transition the School to one that is offering post-graduate programs and that is critical for research but also to building our teaching capacity and a pool of dental specialists in the country. Secondarily, in the long run we would like to see that we have a more purpose-built facility. We are adapting a facility that has been so graciously provided by Mengo Hospital and as we move into the future, we need to have one that is purpose-built for teaching of dental students. Lastly, we look forward to introducing other general courses that can still provide community service.      

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For more of these stories and experiences by and about Uganda Christian University (UCU) staff, students and graduates, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org. If you would like to support UCU, including the School of Dentistry, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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