Welcome Back Communique: January 2022

Jan 31, 2022 | DPA News

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Dear Colleaugues

Welcome to 2022

The year 2022 is well and truly underway. The schools are open and most dental practices have resumed for business. On behalf of the Exco, I wish to welcome all members of the dental fraternity to the year 2022. We wish you all the success in your life adventure.

Membership Initiatives

This week we are launching the membership renewal drive for 2022. The DPA depends on membership fees for its operations and growth, and we are grateful to the members who have supported the association in the past. The membership drive will be conducted across all DPA digital platforms.

Given the increasing cost of doing business and the expansion of activities of the DPA, the Exco has decided to increase the membership fee by 7,7% or R300-00. The membership fee for 2022 will thus cost R4200-00, and it can be paid either in full or via monthly debit order payments of R350-00. This is the first increase in three years, and we hope that it will be accepted by the members.

 

Supervised Clinical Practice

We are excited at the response from the members to the initiative to provide recently qualified graduates with an opportunity to complete the requisite supervised clinical practice in private practices. Information received thus far indicates that most of the graduates have been absorbed. It is our intention to ensure that all the graduates get placement.

The minimum required period for supervised clinical practice is 12 months. Employers are therefore asked to offer at least 12-month employment contracts to the graduates which will allow them to register for independent practice.

The DPA has not issued any guidelines regarding salaries as this is best negotiated between the employer and employee. Nonetheless, we urge both employers and employees to perform a market analysis of the salaries as this will assist their negotiation. The DPA will be issuing a standard employment contact that will assist the employers to formalise the employment relationship of the interns.

 

Annual Program

We are pleased to announce that the partnership with the Ortho Academy and OMERI is continuing. We can therefore look forward to more workshops in various cities across the country, and virtually.

Dental Protection will also be holding online workshops on various ethical topics. Only the members of Dental Protection will be invited to these workshops.

Annual General Meeting

We were unable to hold the annual general meeting in the previous financial year. This was due to the changes that were made regarding the accountants of the association. The newly appointed accountants are working on the financial records, and they should be giving us progress reports soon.

Once the financial reports are completed and approved by Exco, an announcement will be made regarding the date of the AGM. We deeply regret the lapse in such an important area of governance.

 

Kind Regards,

Thabo Twala

Chairperson: Dental Professionals Association (DPA)