New equipment will enable more dentistry students to enrol

The refurbishment and installation of new dental equipment at the UPNG School of Medicine and Health Sciences dental facility will enable more students to be enrolled in the dentistry programme, according to Vice-Chancellor Vincent Malaibe.
Malaibe said the upgrade would also allow more patients to access dental services and more students in the bachelor of oral health or dental surgery programmes.
“The issue for us at the University is standard and quality, you can’t deliver if you don’t have the support system,” he said. “Currently, we offer two programmes in dentistry, bachelor of oral health and bachelor of dental surgery – it’s a five-year programme and those programme you can’t offer without such facilities.”
Malaibe said the dentistry programmes were abolished in the 1980s due to funding issues, but were reintroduced in 1990s to meet the dental needs of the population.
Deputy Health Secretary Dr Paison Dakulala thanked the  Australian government for the funding, the refurbishment of the facilities and other partners for their support.
“I come to this dental clinic twice, I brought my daughter and I found some of the challenging situations. My understanding was not all patients come and access this facility, they come at 5am in the morning  just to stand in line and get the services,” he said.