Tuesday 16/December/2025 – 01:34 AM
Dr. Ihab Heikal, head of the Dentists Syndicate, said that the Syndicate has been warning of unemployment among dentists since 2016, stressing that the studies prepared by the Syndicate have been submitted to the relevant authorities, including the ministries and the advisor to the President of the Republic.
Dental Syndicate
Heikal explained, during an intervention on the “Extra Studio” program, broadcast on the Extra News channel, and presented by media figures Shadi Shash and Nancy Nour, that the main reason for the increase in numbers is due to the desire of students to enroll in top colleges, in addition to the ease of establishing colleges of dentistry and pharmacy compared to colleges of human medicine, as their cost is much lower and does not require educational hospitals, while the student pays approximately the same expenses, which makes the private sector achieve greater profits.
He pointed out that the number of dentists in Egypt exceeded 115 thousand doctors, distributed among 85 colleges, which is an irrational number compared to international standards, indicating that the United States, for example, has 350 million people and graduates 6,500 dentists annually, while the number of graduates in Egypt reaches 800 students per batch.
The head of the Doctors Syndicate pointed out the contradiction between government agencies, as the Ministry of Health says that there is a sufficiency of dentists, while the Ministry of Higher Education continues to open new colleges, which increases the imbalance in the labor market and leads to some graduates practicing professions other than medicine.
Regarding solutions, Heikal confirmed that the union had proposed since 2021 to stop establishing new colleges and convert the recently opened colleges into existing colleges, while setting the number of students accepted annually at a very slight increase, in proportion to the actual need and geographical distribution of the population. He also called for consideration of expanding graduate programs for multiple specializations within dentistry, such as dental implants, prosthodontics, and endodontics, to provide better job opportunities for graduates.
