Huge backlog in dentures, prostheses
The huge backlog in consultations for and the making of dentures in the Ministry of Health and Social Services is largely driven by a lack of staff and resources.According to a notice posted by the ministry at the Katutura State Hospital, no new patients will be seen for dentures due to the backlog. Further notice of when the process will resume will be communicated to new patients, but no date was provided.
When asked about the backlog, the executive director in the ministry, Ben Nangombe, confirmed that the issue has been ongoing on for some time and attributes it to limitations on resources as well as operational challenges.
According to Nangombe, there is currently only one chair available for prosthetic patients which seriously affects the hospital's capacity to handle the volume of patients who require denture and other prosthetic services.
He also says that a significant number of patients do not fetch their finished dentures, despite the manufacturing process taking four to six weeks per product. This leads to wastage of resources and delays in service provision to other patients.
Nangombe says that the relevant department is currently staffed by only two qualified dental technicians and one specialist, a volunteer from Cuba, to handle artificial teeth.
"The number of skilled professionals is insufficient to meet the high demand," he said. According to him, the rotation of in-house doctors and students on a quarterly basis also creates flow and efficiency issues. "Frequent rotations require new staff to be trained from scratch and that puts a damper on the overall productivity and pace of service delivery."
In an effort to curb the ongoing backlog and the above-mentioned challenges, the department has now made a comprehensive request which is being considered by the ministry for the current financial year. This includes increasing chairs from four to six for maxillofacial surgery, prosthodontics to four chairs, conservative dentistry from six to eight and for dentistry in the communities, three mobile chairs to increase outreach programmes and service delivery.
In terms of staff, the request from the dentistry department is for four additional dental technicians, as well as three more specialists to spread the workload more efficiently.
"We are confident that the implementation of the proposals will lead to a significant reduction in the backlog and also improve the overall efficiency of our prosthetic services." - [email protected]