DENTAL PROFESSIONALS PERSPECTIVES ABOUT THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT AND ETHICAL PRACTICES IN PATNA, BIHAR

Dr. Taruna*, Dr. R. N. P Singh, Dr. Suma B. S. and Dr. Garima Mangal

ABSTRACT

The dental profession is a vocation in which knowledge and skill is used for the service of others. Throughout the world, patients have become more aware of their rights & legal literacy to which India is no exception. The Consumer Protection Act(COPRA) has been formulated for the promotion and protection of the rights of consumers. On the other hand, for the dentists; The dentists (Code of Ethics) regulations were laid down by the Dental Council of India in 1976; later revised in the year 2014. Aim: To assess the awareness of the Consumer Protection Act and ethical practices amongst dental professionals of Patna, Bihar. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 dental professionals of Patna, Bihar. Simple random sampling was done. A close-ended questionnaire containing 30 items was used for data collection. Data were collected, compiled & tabulated using Microsoft excel & analyzed by Chi-square test with p < 0.05 as significant. Results: The dental professionals with postgraduate degree and undergraduate degree were 51.50% and 48.50% respectively. A total of 53% of the study participants were aware about COPRA and 86.5% subjects thought that knowledge of ethics is important for them in their work. Qualification and practice experience were significantly associated with awareness towards COPRA(p=0.0001). Conclusion: The study revealed that the participants with higher qualification and those who are practitioners had better knowledge and awareness towards COPRA and code of ethics.

Keywords: Consumer Protection Act, Dental Professionals, Legal Literacy, Code of Ethics.