To expand dental services offered in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), the dental clinic at Mahaica Village, recently underwent significant upgrades to the tune of $2 million.
The refurbished Mahaica Health Centre Dental Clinic was commissioned by the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony on Wednesday and is part of the government’s national plan to improve primary healthcare. It will provide support to current dental facilities accessible within the region, with specific emphasis for residents living along the East Coast corridor.
Dr. Anthony said it was fitting for the centre to be at Mahaica since there was a recognised need for dental services in the vicinity of Mahaica and to support other centres and facilities in the area.
“This was a project that we were working on for some time now and we are happy to bring it to fruition.
“We recognise that there was a gap in the servicing and so by having a dentist station here we are hoping that we could rectify that problem,” the Health Minister said.
A dentist will be stationed at the facility.
Acknowledging the lack of specialised health services available at more far-flung areas, Minister Anthony said it is his hope that eye care will be the next focal point.
Most public specialised services are accessible at the hospitals which are based in towns rather than individual villages. Using the dental clinic and similar centres, persons don’t have to travel far from their homes to get health services.
“We are constantly trying to expand the range of services that we could offer, dentistry is one of those, but we also at some point would like to get more ophthalmology services as well
“We should have a couple on the east coast so that people could have access to these things,” Minister Anthony said.
The minister also reminded that the Enmore Hospital and pediatric and maternity hospital, soon to be constructed at Ogle, will add to the range of services offered on the East Coast.
Similar to the Diabetic clinic at Lusignan, the Health Minister said this facility will be a public awareness hub providing persons with information needed to prevent dental problems.
“We hope that we could do more prevention rather than extraction. Hopefully one of the things we will be able to offer here is patient education so with that maybe we can get people doing the right things,” Minister Anthony added.
The government has placed massive focus on healthcare and along with the new hospitals to be constructed, four other new hospitals are part of the government’s plan to improve healthcare across the country.
