Dear Dr Dhoble,
First, let us affirm that this letter is not ad hominem and it should not be taken personally. At the end of our careers, we have no interest or ambitions to any post or privilege in IDA. But as members or past office bearers of the association we have deep concern about the way the Indian Dental Association ( IDA) is being run. We have brought this matter to your attention in a personal note and have not received a credible reply or explanation about several issues being raised. We also wish to assert that we are not being influenced by any group as is being perceived by some of your friends.
Therefore this open letter. While we acknowledge the fact that you have made the IDA into a gleaming corporate structure, we are also concerned about the meagre benefits the contributing dentist members around the country are getting out of their association. The matters of immediate concern are ( but not limited to)
1. The concentration of power in the hands of a few. The Hon. Secretary's post is a time bound one as per the constitution but we have seen just 2 secretaries in the last 36 years. By the end of the present term in 2022, the secretary would have served 20 years. The general body meetings for election of the HGS are somehow arranged to always be in the incumbent secretary's home city or at least state. This seems more than a coincidence as it has happened two times and we will not be surprised if it is scheduled again in Mumbai / Maharashtra in 2022 for the next election.
2. The IDA Head office is run like a corporate office at enormous cost to the association. We see from the balance sheet/ statement of accounts that the HO spends about ₹6-8 crores a year ( 4 previous year statements available to us). The rent for running the office and salaries run way beyond 1 crore each. In your communications you have claimed to have 80 employees. The annual electricity bill is ₹ 15 lakh , there are humongous expenses for travel in India and abroad amongst other things. This does not seem to be helping the contributing dentist from various parts of India in any meaningful manner. Today's offices, nationally and internationally, are run with paperless administration and e- governance. Major International Associations with larger memberships and handling greater logistics are run at far lower costs and manpower ( calculated on purchasing power parity). More over, this is not a permanent office and it is meant to be rotated from time to time. Can this kind of expenditure on resources be justified, particularly when the members do not even get a quality journal free of cost. What does a dentist shelling out ₹1400 a year in these hard times get for their contribution?
3. The sponsorships from toothpaste and other companies, received and disbursed through the HO, seems to be too centralised. Current government and statutory regulations frown on corporate sponsorships and the money received itself is questionable. Let us assume that it is a 'corporate social responsibility' ( CSR) and there fore justified because the profession and public has after all benefitted in some small ways by their schemes. However the centralised receipt and disbursement of these sponsorships call into question the manner in which the finances are being spread across the branches. If at all sponsorship as CSR can be received, the dentists are concerned about transparency and fairness in its distribution for conduct of continuing education or knowledge dissemination programmes. In fact the ethical conflicts raised by such sponsorships itself should be scrutinised.
3. A recent development suggests that the IDA is being turned into a professional service provider for a statutory body, namely the Maharashtra State Dental Council. This is being viewed sceptically by many members. We understand that the IDA is providing logistic and data management support to the Maharashtra Dental Council for a fee of ₹45,000 a month and ₹5 lakhs as development fees. We have reservations on this matter for 4 reasons
a. Whether the General Body of IDA was consulted before involving the IDA as a business service provider. Business outsourcing is not a function described in the IDA constitution.
b. Whether it is correct to use the services of employees of the IDA head office for business purposes as they have been employed ( at enormous cost) for administration of the association.
c. Whether the company Dentsoft, which developed the software, belongs to any office bearer of the IDA.
d. We understand that the Hon.secretary general of IDA is canvassing for the post of DCI member under 3 (a). Since the IDA secretary will have access to the data of the prospective voters for 3(a) in the State Dental Council elections, there seems to be a conflict of interest and an unfair advantage to the Secretary? This model will be misused across the country if we allow this to happen.
There are several other issues pertaining to the democratic running of the organisation. We strongly feel that the association would be better run by employing a highly qualified executive secretary ( as is done by several international associations) with adequate pay and perks rather than have a professional dental practitioner running the affairs of office as Hon. Secretary General with no pay. Alternately, the term of of the secretary should be limited to one term. The association should be run by a President and executives elected by the members for a fixed term and preferably in a centralised city where the real estate is not so high and the human resources are more rational. We need an association that can work towards the welfare of the dentists who are going through a rough patch, rather than build plush corporate offices and initiate programmes that have no impact on the practising dentist for whom the association was created in the first place.
As a beginning, I hope the members will strongly gather together and bring change in the constitution so that we can have a more democratic and decentralised organisation working towards the welfare of the dentist, his profession and the public. Despite the requirement that the constitution and amendments be circulated, there is no public access to it.
We do not want World Dental Shows and pomp. We need welfare for the members at a time when dentistry is going through some bad times. We need representation in the Clinical Establishment Act. We need social security and indemnity. We need free continuing education, not just in Mumbai but in the remotest parts of the country. Mostly, we need absolute transparency and free and fair elections.
We need change! It can only come with new and younger faces of a bright new generation. As a secretary, you can still make it happen and salvage your position by engineering change and passing on the baton after serving for 20 years. The gray beards must retire gracefully.
This letter in its authentic original format is available on the blog site www.maxfaxgp.blogspot.com . Any variation in its dissemination is not the responsibility of the authors. It is being published in the interest and welfare of the profession.
George Paul- Member IDA, past Hon. Gen. Secretary and President AOMSI, TN State Legal Cell Convenor
Viswanath V- past State IDA president, Kerala State and CC member.
Murali Venkataswamy- Member IDA, past TN State Legal Cell convenor.
