DENTAL SURGEONS PLACEMENT POSE PROBLEM FOR GHS (PAGE 22, JULY 31, 2010)

THE Ghana Dental Association (GDA) has observed that placement of dental surgeons after their graduation has always been a problem for both the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the association.
The problem is mainly due to inadequate number of accredited dental facilities to absorb new doctors.
The President of the GDA, Dr Josephine Sackeyfio made the appeal when she addressed the 19th annual conference of the association in Sunyani. It was on the theme: “Gerodontology, quality oral healthcare for the elderly”.
Dr Sackeyfio said the association had observed that currently, there were only six accredited dental centres available for placement of dental surgeons throughout the country, which made it impossible to absorb all the newly qualified locally trained DSs.
She said the result of that had been a feeling of frustration among those new and young professionals.
Dr Sackeyfio stated that the GDA had therefore, appealed to the government to provide more accredited health facilities that would ensure prompt placement of DSs to improve access to oral healthcare throughout the country.
The GDA president also noted that another problem of the association and the GHS was the refusal by some newly qualified DSs to accept posting to areas normally considered as deprived, and therefore, called for a review of policies by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Dr Sackeyfio disclosed that a study conducted in 1997 by the United Nations (UN) Department of Public Information on ageing, revealed that the number of people aged between 60 and above would increase from 22.9 million to 101.9 million in Africa between 1980 and 2025.
She said that comparatively showed an increase by a factor of 4.4 to that of 2.1 for developed countries over the same period, adding that the number of those aged 75 and above in West Africa would also increase by over 500 per cent.
The Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) at Fiapre near Sunyani, Professor James H. Ephraim, said currently, the number of schools of dentistry in the country were only two and that, the number of dentists who graduated was definitely not enough to cater for the needs of the aged in the country as long as oral healthcare was concerned.
He said efforts therefore ought to be made by the government to support the establishment of two new Schools of Dentistry, one at the University for Development Studies and another at the University of Cape Coast.
Professor Ephraim added that scholarships/fellowships should be provided for individuals to undertake postgraduate studies in various aspects of dentistry, including gerodontology.
The Chief Dental Officer, Dr Constance Addo-Yobo in a presentation, noted that among the elderly, impaired mobility impeded access to oral healthcare, particularly for those who resided in rural areas with poor public transport.
She said another barrier to oral healthcare in Ghana was financial hardship after following retirements, the perceived high cost of dental treatment together with negative attitudes to oral health, which might deter them from visiting dentists.