More than 700 residents of Cane Grove, Mahaica and its environs have benefitted to date from the ongoing free dental and eye care outreach activities being conducted by the Ministry of Health, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said in a news release.
The outreach activities which were conducted on January 10, 11, and 14, were facilitated by a team of professionals from the National Dental and Eye Care Programmes.
According to GINA, from as early as 06:00 hrs, hundreds of residents, including children, queued up in front of the Cane Grove Health Centre and the mobile dental vehicle to access the services provided.
Regarding eye care, 360 residents had their eyes examined by a refractionist and ophthalmologist and were prescribed spectacles or referred for further treatment in cases where it was deemed necessary.
In this regard, 18 persons with suspected glaucoma, 23 with suspected cataract, three with suspected pterygium, and five with suspected diabetic retinopathy were referred to the Ophthalmology Centre at Port Mourant, Corentyne for further evaluation and possible surgical intervention, GINA said.
The initiative is part of the ministry’s continued drive to take free, quality, health care to the various communities throughout the country in order to complement the primary health care services offered at health centres and hospitals.
Meanwhile more than 400 persons had their teeth examined, cleaned and polished, filled and extracted by the team of dental technicians led by Dr. Dina Harlequin and including Dentex, Community Dental Assistants and Dental Assistants.
Giving an overview of the outreach activities to date, Dr. Harlequin stated that in addition to attending to the residents, the opportunity was seized to educate them on the care of their teeth.
The outreach activity continues this week at schools in the Cane Grove area, GINA added.
