Dental care facilities to be provided at PHCs, says CM

Shimla, Jun 10 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said dental care facilities will be provided at primary health centres (PHCs) by the end of this financial year.

Addressing the two-day 114th general body meeting of the Dental Council of India after inaugurating it here, he said specialised health facilities had been created at state, zonal, regional, district and sub-divisional level and efforts were on to extend oral health care facilities down to the primary health centre level.

Mr Singh said general awareness of erratic lifestyle and use of tobacco and alcohol, basic hygiene and balanced diet had contributed to a healthier population with increased life expectancy.

Like other general health oral health has improved significantly in the last few decades, he said.

He said future plans required taking into account significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases the world over.

The Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC) here has Open Heart Surgery, MRI, Cath Laboratory facilities, besides intensive care units (ICUs) and other specialized services, which were now available to the people of their state, he said.

Referring to the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College at Tanda, he said it was fast emerging as the best medical education and diagnostic centre in the entire north India was not only to cater to the health needs of the people of the state but also of the adjoining states.

The Chief Minister said Himachal has one medical college in the government sector and four in the private sector, imparting quality education to 320 students.

The state has one dental doctor for every 10,000 people as against one doctor for every 50,000 people at the national level, he said.

He said his Himachal Government also had introduced Masters in Dental Surgery in four disciplines of Community Dentistry, Periodontics, Oral Surgery and Orthodontics besides having training programmes for dental mechanics and dental hygienists to update their skills.

Dental Council of India President Anil Kohli, speaking on the occasion, said oral health care has been recognised as a separate discipline and separate funds would be available for oral health care under the Eleventh Plan.

He said the Council was committed to provide oral health care facility to the poorest of the poor in the remotest and difficult areas and effective steps were already on to achieve the objective.

Lauding the achievement of the state in the health sector, he said the state had exceptional record in health care and education.

UNI