Oral health vital - Minister
By OLIVER SAMBOKO GOVERNMENT will continue to support the delivery of quality oral health care services to enable sustainability of quality health care delivery to the citizenly, says Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya.
Dr. Chilufya said the ministry would therefore soon introduce the Social Health Insurance which will include oral health services.
The minister said this in a speech read by Southern Province director of health Dr Jelita Chinyonga at the 41st Zambia Dental Association Scientific Symposium held under the theme "Wellness, The Oral Health Approach" at Kariba Inns Hotel in Siavonga,
Dr Chilufya said oral health was an integral part of general health but noted that the burden of oral disease was on the increase, especially dental caries which he said was one of the ten causes of morbidity at 29.7 per 1, 000 population across all age groups.
He said to reduce the disease burden, Government had taken major steps aimed at resolving the challenges faced by dentists in service delivery.
The minister said shortage of human resource was a big problem involving most professionals including dental surgeons and other allied oral health personnel.
He said that to address the challenge, the ministry had employed all dental therapists and technologists who graduated before December 2016, including the dental assistants who will be recruited in due course.
“The Ministry of Health will continue to prioritise HRH and ensure that there is an adequate number of well trained workers equitably distributed in health facilities across the country,” he said Dr. Chilufya said to scale-up the production of health workers, new training institutions have been opened to increase the number of health workers in different fields.
He said the Copperbelt University School of Medicine, recently graduated the second set of Zambian trained dental surgeons which he hoped would reduce the ratio of dental surgeon to patients population which stood at 217,391 by 2016.
Dr. Chilufya disclosed that to improve service delivery, the ministry has embarked on health infrastructure development which include upgrading of health facilities from one level to another and equipping them with appropriate equipment including dental equipment at all levels of care. He urged the Dental Association of Zambia (DAZ) to come up with research-based evidence on oral diseases and practices that would form part of the health policy.
This year's symposium which attracted over 70 dental professionals and students delegates from across Zambia, was held in conjunction with the ministry of health, KANO Health Care Solutions and Colgate Palmolive.
During their symposium, dentists also visited two local schools within Siavonga where they did oral health talks, checkups and distributed Colgate toothpaste and tooth brushes to pupils and teachers.