Standerton Hospital’s dental services are time-consuming

Protocols for oral health care at Standerton Hospital are fraught with man-made obstacles.

Community members recently alerted the Standerton Advertiser to a new system of dental services at the hospital.

After investigating, it became crystal clear that patients go the hospital, pay a token amount (R50) to collect their file and a dentist will refer them to one of the outreach clinics.

At this stage, no teeth are extracted at the hospital, patients are examined, given pain medication and a referral letter to go to the nearest clinic.

Apart from the wasting of time and money, as well as effort to get treatment, patients who are employed, need to take off from work.

They subsequently have to apply for leave for two days, instead of one day.

Learners at schools are exactly in the same boat and will be absent for two days.

The outcome of this system leaves those in the community, dependent on the provincial hospital, with no choice but to use dental practices in town, when in pain.

Money-wise it means that patients could fork out between R400 to R500 for a consultation or extraction of teeth at a certain practitioner.

Dental services at Sakhile and Standerton’s outreach clinics are scheduled for certain days.

Patients can see dentists on Mondays and Wednesdays, while services are rendered in Balfour on Tuesdays and in Morgenzon on Thursdays.

No dental services are available in Standerton on Thursdays and Fridays.

During a search on a WhatsApp-group, it was discovered that some locals resorted to going to a private practitioner.

One woman posted that his fees are reasonable, while another said R900 had to be paid for a milk tooth extraction.

She considered this to be an exorbitant amount.

One resident posted a message a while ago, saying dentists at the hospital only work early in the mornings, while another arrived one Monday and no services were available.

One woman said she needed dental services that would not cost an arm and a leg.

A businessman from town who wished to remain anonymous, said on Monday, May 23 that the services at the hospital leave much to be desired.

According to him, his employee went to the oral health facility last Monday and was referred to a clinic in Sakhile.

Upon arrival at the clinic, he joined the queue only to be told when first in line, that they only treat the first 10 patients.

An appointment for the following Monday was made, resulting in the worker’s discomfort for a whole week.

It could not be established whether the employee went to the Lilian Mambakazi Clinic, Sakhile Clinic or Winnifred Maboea Clinic.

Another source, who has made use of the clinic in Mispel Street, said the mobile dental clinic works well although you have to wait outside for your turn.

According to her, no chairs are available outside and your file needs to be collected first before a dentist will attend to you.

The Standerton Advertiser contacted the CEO of the hospital, Nhlanhla Dladla, via email, to get to the bottom of this time-consuming issue.

The following questions were posed with the understanding that there is a difference between primary health care and secondary health care.
• Which procedures are followed to treat patients needing to see a dentist?
• Why can specific work not be done at a specific time?
• How long does a patient have to wait before full treatment is administered?
• What is the reason for the delay in treating patients at the hospital?
Enquiries were also made at the Department of Health in Mpumalanga.
No response to these questions, sent at the end of April, was received from either quarters at the time of going to press.