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Influx of fake dentist …Dental Association caution public
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