Delta Govt. pledges support for improved oral healthcare

ayodele johnson

March 11, 2017 6:28 PM

An efficient oral healthcare system is key in maintaining standard and healthy oral health of all citizens for a healthy society.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State

Delta Government has pledged to support efforts toward improving oral healthcare across the state and the nation at large.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Nicholas Azinge, made the pledge on Friday in Asaba when members of the Dental Health Committee, Nigerian Medical Association, Delta chapter, paid him a visit.

He said an efficient oral healthcare system was key in maintaining standard and healthy oral health of all citizens for a healthy society.

The commissioner commended the committee for creating the Dental Surgeons Directory and advised it to make it accessible on the internet for wider coverage of their activities.

He stressed the need for professionalism in the discharge of their duties and urged them to forward a comprehensive report and proposal on their needs assessment for the ministry’s attention and action.

Dr Vivian Omo-Aghoja, the Consultant, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Central Hospital, Sapele, said that the committee planned to establish a comprehensive oral health statistics.

According to her, such statistics will help to lay the foundation for improved oral healthcare in the state and the nation at large.

She said the committee was working hard to reduce and alleviate the burden of oral diseases in the state and the nation by proposing favourable policies.

Omo-Aghoja disclosed that such policies would promote increased training of skilled/specialised oral healthcare personnel.

She appealed to the commissioner to assist the committee to meet its 2017 targets, noting that among them was the expansion of dental services in Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH) to accommodate more specialties.

Other targets, she said, were the improvement of facilities in general hospitals across the state, and re-establishment of the Dental School in DELSUTH.

Omo-Aghoja announced that a Dental Surgeon’s Directory for the state had been created, while the Nigerian Dental Association, Delta chapter, had been reestablished.

She said activities marking the 20th International Oral Health Day in the state would include; health education on oral hygiene practices in centres that offer dental services in Warri, Ughelli, Sapele, Eku, Ekpan and Ibusa.

“This will culminate in the grand finale at the Federal Government College, Warri, where lectures on this year’s theme — “Live Mouth Smart” — oral hygiene practices and free dental checks for the participants, will hold,” Omo-Aghoja said.

She added that participants would be drawn from 20 secondary schools across the state, market women associations, youths and women faith-based organisations.

ayodele johnson