Only one dental surgeon at Pindi’s Holy Family Hospital

RAWALPINDI: The dental department of Holy Family Hospital in Satellite Town, which receives over 120 patients daily, is in dire need of the Punjab Health Department’s urgent attention, presently being run by a single dentist and is without its head. Oral hygiene is central to health and the way this critically important department is being run, speaks volumes about the deep issues this hospital faces, as almost all other departments also face a host of problems with a varied degree that too in the face of ever-increasing rush of ailing patients, who just can't afford treatment at private hospitals or clinics.

It was learnt that the entire dental department is without ‘manpower’ with just one dental surgeon and three technicians. The head of the department in grade-20, retired in December last and the post remains unoccupied hitherto while four posts of grade-17 dental surgeons also have been abolished owing to unknown reasons. The head of the department also used to see patients in view of their heavy load. The number of patients continues to grow each day and load on the poor single dentist in grade-18 and three technicians is quite understandable.

The department is forced to confining its activities mainly to extraction and filling, because of non-availability of doctors and requirement number of instruments, as without proper sterlisation, use of instruments can lead to further health complications. The situation on the mechanical and instruments front is also grim: the department owns five dental units, critical to entertaining patients with dental problems; however, just one is functioning though not fully while the rest are out of order. “Not much funds are required to make these units running. But we face some problems. We are also trying to get posted some doctors and fill the vacant posts of technicians,” confirmed a senior administration official at the hospital, when approached by The News.

He conceded that while there were reports of significant increase in number of patients and diseases, the department was facing so many problems in men and material to cope with the situation.