UNSA Faculty of Dentistry to take over 40 specialists from health centers, offering full service in one place

By: A. Vrabac

The University of Sarajevo - Faculty of Dentistry with the Dental Clinical Center will be the new name of this organizational unit of the University of Sarajevo. The decision was made by the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Dentistry with Clinics at the end of March, and the Senate of UNSA confirmed the name change with its decision on March 30, 2022. What will need to be done is an amendment to Article 144, Paragraph 2, Point aa of the Law on Higher Education of KS in order to change the name of this organizational unit. After the amendment to the Law is completed, the change will be registered in the court register of the Municipal Court.

The Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Muhamed Ajanović, stated in an interview for Patria that they had initiated the name change during 2021, but that it was not possible until the legal integration of the University of Sarajevo was completed. This was completed on July 1, 2021, and the conditions for the name change were met.

Ajanović explained that all specialist activities, i.e., secondary healthcare, will take place outside of health centers.

"Dental healthcare is the first step of this project, in a way that the secondary level of dental healthcare will move to the clinics of the Faculty of Dentistry. We had a meeting with the Minister of Health, Haris Vranić, at which we expressed our readiness to accept all specialists from health centers, and a working group has already been formed to consolidate specialist dental activities," explains Ajanović.

He believes that by the end of this school year, the Faculty of Dentistry will have 40 specialists from health centers.

"We will then introduce two shifts within the Faculty of Dentistry, and this will be in function of providing optimal dental healthcare services to the population of Sarajevo Canton. All patients will be able to receive complete dental healthcare in one place."

This will improve the dental healthcare system, the quality of services for patients, and rationalize the funds of the KS Health Insurance Fund. Financial resources from the Fund that the Health Center received for these doctors will be transferred to the Faculty of Dentistry, i.e., the dental clinical center.

"We will also request support staff, which includes dental nurses and dental technicians, as dental technology belongs to the secondary level of healthcare, and we will request all technicians from health centers to be transferred to the Faculty of Dentistry," said Ajanović.

New equipment at the Faculty of Dentistry, special chairs for children 

In addition to the services they provide to patients, the Faculty of Dentistry also provides services to children with developmental disabilities under general anesthesia. During our visit to the faculty, we toured all the premises and saw what this faculty has. All dental chairs have been replaced, and 126 new chairs have been procured.

 

Once the dental clinical center is operational, patients will have the opportunity to receive full dental services in one place. To avoid confusion, patients are already receiving dental services, and after the specialists are taken over, the scope of services will increase. A certain portion of services is free for KS Health Insurance Fund beneficiaries, a portion of services is co-paid, and individuals without health insurance pay the full price of the service, which is 30 percent cheaper than in the private sector.

Dean Ajanović does not hide the plans he has for this faculty, stating that the development plan includes, in addition to healthcare activities, the development of educational activities by introducing study programs in English.

Ajanović is in his second term as dean, and in the past few years, he has procured the most modern dental equipment. He particularly emphasized the sterilization system.

"The Faculty of Dentistry with Clinics of the University of Sarajevo is the best-equipped faculty in the region and one of the better-equipped faculties in the European Union. We have the most modern equipment, all equipment for digital dentistry, and all equipment for digital diagnostics in the field of dental medicine. We are regularly inspected, subject to every type of examination that public health institutions are subject to, we educate people and send them abroad so they can follow professional trends," explains Ajanović.

The most modern sterilizers are used 

Regarding the services provided by the Faculty of Dentistry with Clinics to patients, they are performed within study programs, and such services are exempt from payment, except for the material costs.

"A zirconium crown within the study program costs 100 KM, while the same crown within the clinics of the Faculty of Dentistry costs 400 KM. Every year, we organize a non-cyclical study program called 'Dental Implantology from Basic to Advanced,' which includes providing dental implant services to citizens of KS, as well as citizens of BiH, where the services are not charged at all. Citizens should register at the Clinic for Dental Prosthetics, request to participate in this program, get a 3D scan, and qualify for implant placement," explains the dean.

The Faculty of Dentistry has an agreement on providing dental services with the American Embassy and its employees, and one of Dean Ajanović's main goals is to improve dental healthcare for citizens and the University of Sarajevo itself.

Regarding the tuition fees of 7,500 KM, which are often highlighted in public as high, Dean Ajanović stated that the students of the Faculty of Dentistry supported this idea.

"The price includes the most modern equipment and materials that students work with," he said, adding that the Faculty of Dentistry educates dental doctors who are already preparing to work with the most modern equipment. Tuition fees at private universities are much higher than what University of Sarajevo students pay.

The Faculty of Dentistry with Clinics has slightly more than 30 professors and teachers, and none of them work at a private university. Every teacher is available to both patients and students at all times during working hours.

The Faculty of Dentistry also has a space of about 2,500 square meters where the Maxillofacial Surgery of KCUS was once located. This space needs to be renovated, and there is an idea to turn it into a student hotel.

New carpentry installed, but the interior needs renovation 

"If we were to do that, we could pay off any loan. If the state does not build a student hotel, they can easily rent out this space. That would be 30,000 KM per month, and that could service any work and equipping of the faculty in the long term. We will wait to see if the UNSA administration will do something or if we will do it ourselves," said Ajanović.

He pointed out that the enrollment of 100 foreign students is planned for this year.

In the academic year 2021/22, 114 students were enrolled in the first year of study, 101 students in 2020/2021, and 128 in 2019/2020.