DENTAL PROJECT INAUGURATED AT KINTAMPO (PAGE 28)

The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd) , has urged Ghanaians to take care of their oral health and to regularly visit dental facilities for professional advice and care.
He advised that people should not wait till their jaws get swollen before rushing to dental units.
Major Quashigah made the appeal when he inaugurated a 6.5-million euro Ghana Dental Project at the Kintampo North Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The ceremony also marked a symbolic inauguration of 21 Dental Clinics built nationwide under the Ghana Dental Project, which is a collaboration between the governments of Ghana and The Netherlands.
Three of the clinics are in Brong Ahafo Region and are located at Kintampo North Municipality and Goaso, the capital of the Asunafo North Municipality, and Sampa, the capital of the Jaman North District.
The project is to ensure availability and access to essential health services of high quality for individuals, especially those in deprived communities.
Major Quashigah recalled that in his school days, teachers inspected the teeth of pupils to ensure that they had the best of oral hygiene.
He noted that teachers were no longer “inspecting teeth” and this made it imperative for parents to supervise their children to clean their teeth.
He stressed the need for personnel manning the dental clinics to adopt good maintenance culture for the equipment at the facilities.
He commended the Kintampo Health Training School’s Research Centre for winning an international award for research.
The acting Director of the Kintampo Health Training School, Mr Moses Solaga, said the school received 7,651 applications for admission for the 2007/2008 academic year but was able to admit only 491, 33 men and 158 women.
Mr Solaga said intake of students had increased from 20 per class to as high as 100 or more per class but infrastructure development had not kept pace with the increased intake.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Kintampo North, Mr Awudulai Razak, appealed to the Ministry of Health to help fence the school to prevent further encroachment of its land.