PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not been able to develop dental health services at grassroots level despite availability of specialist surgeons, according to sources.

There are only 210 dental surgeons against 6,000 medical doctors in the public sector hospitals of the province. It shows the lack of attention by the government towards dental health services.

Officials, however, claim that 67 new posts of dental surgeons have been created that also include specialists, who will be posted at the district headquarters hospitals (DHQs).

There are only 210 dental surgeons in the province

“The current situation with regard to dental care services at government hospitals is not up to the desired level,” said sources. They said that health department sanctioned 26 posts of dental surgeons in 2015 and 25 posts in 2016. They added that the province inducted 500 students in four public sector and five private colleges but new posts were not created.

There is one dental surgeon each at rural health centre, tehsil quarters hospital and district headquarters hospital. The dental surgeons face sterilisation issues at those health facilities because of non-availability of autoclave machine, which costs only Rs400, 000, to prevent cross-infection.

The province has employed about 35 dental specialists while as many specialists are jobless, work in private hospitals or have proceeded abroad.

About 100 trained medical officers (TMOs) are getting postgraduate training in seven specialties in Khyber College of Dentistry (KCD). At least 15 TMOs pass out every year who can be appointed as dental specialists in DHQs to facilitate local population and lessen load of patients on Peshawar hospitals where dental services are concentrated.

The director-general health services demolished a post of deputy director (dental), who was focal person for the matters about dentistry and used to point out needs of dental surgeons to the government. The dental affairs have been run by a clerk since 2002.

Dr Tariq Khan, an assistant professor at KCD, said that lack of facilities and awareness about oral hygiene was resulting in high prevalence of diseases in rural areas.

“About 60 per cent population face teeth decay and gum diseases due to lack of facilities. We have found school students with problems which are curable at the early age,” he said.

Dr Tariq said that they visited schools and targeted students aged five to 15 years and persuaded them to take precautions about their teeth to lead quality life. He said that regular checkups every three months was mandatory to stay safe but people came to them when they felt toothache.

“Tooth preservation requires regular brushing and cleanliness,” Dr Tariq said, adding that some diseases were not painful due to which they snowballed into major problems.

The KCD, being the oldest facility in the province, is also facing problems.

Although political intervention in the institution with regard to appointments, promotions and selection etc has ended after enforcement of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015yet the college’s plan to recruit 35 staffers and start evening OPD and institution-based practice and begin round-the-clock laboratory services is yet to see light of the day.

The finance department returned a request for the new posts, asking the college to contact Board of Governors of the medical teaching institution. On the instruction of BoG, it has now demanded 10 posts, which are yet to be sanctioned.

KCD Principal Prof Ghulam Rasool said they received Rs340 million one-line budget from the government annually, bulk of which went to salaries of staff and nothing was left for development.

“More than 400 patients visit the facility per day. They are tested for hepatitis before carrying out the procedures, including filling, extraction etc, free of cost,” he said.

A new building, to be completed at a cost of Rs373 million will ease the load. The 28-bed KCD has 30 specialists but has not made new appointments since 1991.

The government spends Rs5 million on graduates and Rs5 million on training of TMOs but their services were not acquired.

The college administration is also concerned about requirements of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to save the facility from being derecognised.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2016