The government will train some thirteen young people as Dental Laboratory Technicians which will significantly boost dental services in Guyana.
The Training Programme was officially launched at the Ministry of Health after a fifteen-year hiatus.
The Department of Public Information spoke with several of those who will be trained on Tuesday.
“I feel great. I have wanted to be in the dental field since I was a child and this programme has allowed me to start that,” said Shania Butters.
Another trainee, who will be engaged in the programme, Kacy Bowen said he intends to continue furthering his studies after it wraps up.
“I feel very, very proud to know that since, 15 years now we would be like the first batch in a while and based on the information that we got from the minister I feel very proud and very happy to be here and being a part of this course,” he said.
Narria Simon of St Cuthberts Mission is also excited to start her career in the dental field.
“I joined this programme because it allows me to bring out the creative side …in a health care setting. I also chose this programme because I see myself as a doctor in the next five years. So, after finishing this programme, my goal is to attend the university to gain my degree in dentistry,” she told DPI.
The programme will qualify persons to fix and repair dental prostheses and other devices.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, in his address to the trainees, noted the importance of the training in the context of building a modern health sector.
He noted that the government has made a significant investment in improving services at the Cheddi Jagan Dental School. He said too that the government has made improvements in imaging technology.
“In 2019, if you look at it, we had about 50 clinics and those 50 clinics had 78 chairs. Today as I speak to you here, we have 57 clinics and we have more than 101 chairs. This is also going to improve. And, this is not talking about the new chairs that we will be adding to the new hospitals that we are building. So, you will see a substantial increase,” he said.
With this expansion in dental services, he noted that more people are being trained as dentex, dental assistants, and dental aides from all regions.
“This particular training is particularly important. Because if 15 years ago was the last time, we had such a programme, imagine now we don’t have the type of people who should be providing this type of service,” he stated.
The minister said such services are only accessible at the Cheddi Jagan Dental School.
“In this day and age, we need to change that and that is what we are hoping that this programme would do,” he said.
He noted that the aim is to have quality dental service in Guyana, therefore more investments will be made in building the necessary infrastructure and training. (Department of Public Information)
