Dentistry, ophthalmology services to expand in hinterland regions
The Ministry of Health has begun the expansion of health services nationwide, to decentralise its services and ensure quality healthcare is provided for all citizens.
At the launch of the Family Health Manual at the ministry’s Brickdam office on Tuesday, Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said major emphasis is currently being placed on the expansion of dental and optical services, especially in hinterland regions.
“In a lot of the areas in our country, they still don’t have access to dental services. And so, we are trying to make sure that in every region, people can have access to dental services,” Dr Anthony expressed.
The health ministry, he noted, has several persons centrally located at the Dr Cheddi Jagan Dental School, who are continuously being dispatched to different regions to ensure adequate delivery of services. Dental technicians are also present to render assistance.
“Right now, I would say we have a very good service in most of the coastal regions, and we are now optimising in the hinterland regions for dentistry,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, ophthalmology screening is being done in the interior, and mobile teams are being sent to take note of those who have serious vision problems that require surgery.
Minister Anthony disclosed that those persons are transferred to the National Ophthalmology Hospital at Port Mourant, Corentyne for treatment.
Mobile teams are also able to conduct eye tests and provide spectacles to persons within three to five minutes, using a colour-coded mechanism.
“They have something like a backpack, and in the backpack, they have lots of lenses, and they have a very simple instrument that they can put on their eyes. It has two [mechanisms] like a ruler, and it is colour-coded,” Minister Anthony explained.
More than 5, 000 persons have benefitted from these glasses since last year.
“That programme has been working really well, and I think a lot of people in the interior are very appreciative of the programme,” Minister Anthony stated.