Clinic renovation boosts dental services

THE Port Moresby General Hospital dental clinic can now see more than 50 patients per day compared to 20 in the past, thanks to the renovation and installation of new equipment by the Australian and Chinese governments and the Health Department.
Clinic coordinator Dr Elenise Falealiga said at the dedication ceremony yesterday that they used to have patients coming in as early as 2am to get a number from one to 20 to be served but now patients could come in anytime and still get attended to.
“Our patients are so happy, a lot of them are not rushing to come and stand in the line because they know they will come and we’ll still serve them,” Falealiga said.
“The facility is similar to overseas countries.  Right now we are looking for manpower, we have to maintain it, we have to train more staff to be able to look after the equipment,” she said.
PMGH chief executive office Dr Umesh Gupta said the facility had an orthopantomogram which could provide a wide x-ray view of the lower face, displaying all the teeth of the upper and lower jaws on a single film.
“It’s very important for treating jaw fractures and those kind of ailments and tumours of the jaw.  It is fully digitised and linked with the internal hospital software system so x-rays done on this machine are visible on other laptops or computers anywhere in the entire hospital so doctors can have easy access to them.”
He said the refurbishment of the clinic was done in collaboration with the Australian High Commission providing K1 million for the building renovations, the Government spending K2 million on the medical equipment, and the Chinese government providing dental chairs through the Chinese medical team.