The Ghana Dental Association (GDA) is concerned about the invasion of fake dentists in the country practicing in barber and hair­dressing salons.

Dr (Dent.) Cecilia Kakrabah Quarsh­ie, President of the Association, said the development was becoming alarming, stressing the need for a collaboration between the association and security agencies arrest the quack dentists.

This came to light at the 33rd Annu­al General Congress (AGC) of the GDA in Kumasi, Ashanti Region.

It was under the theme, ‘Strength­ening the GDA: An All Inclusive Mem­bership for Tomorrow’s Success.’

According to Dr Quarshie, it was a development every member of the public must be concerned about because of the dangers these fake doctors pose to life and health.

“Dentistry is a noble profession deeply rooted and steep in medicine and science and should not be trivi­alised as mere fashion statement be­cause implications of these unregulat­ed practices are alarming,” she said.

According to her, efforts were being made to end the practice and asked the members of the public to deal with qualified dentist in order to avoid any health implications.

In attendance at the AGC was the Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, who stressed the need for teaching hospitals to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to al­low consultants at the hospitals to do clinicals at rural or peri-urban areas periodically.

He said it should be possible for specialists to extend their services to other areas of the country that lacked their expertise.

On his part, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo, in a statement read on his behalf, expressed worry about the exodus of health workers which he said could have repercussions on the provision of health care in the coun­try.

In 2023, he said about 4,000 nurses left the country to Europe and Ameri­ca in search of better opportunities.

He said, already, there was an un­equal distribution of health workers, particularly specialist medical staff in the country, and that the current situation would exacerbate the plight of those already at a disadvantage.

“It is estimated that about 70 to 80 per cent of dentists are clustered in the southern part of the country, mainly Accra and Kumasi, while the remaining 20 per cent are distributed across the northern sector.

“This leaves thousands of people without access to professional care services, especially in rural and peri-urban Ghana,” he added. As of 2022, there were a total of 570 dentists for a population of 31 mil­lion people – a ratio of one dentist to 58,400 people.

This, he said, falls below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of a dentist for every 7,500 people.

 From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi