A week-long free dental camp at Bwaila District Hospital and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe ended on Friday with over 1 300 patients treated for various dental problems.
In an interview, KCH chief dental officer Yobe Moyo commended members of the Rotary Club of Lilongwe, who provided K3.5 million worth of the required medical supplies for the camp.
“The numbers were going higher each passing day, which shows that there is a lot of excitement when people hear that KCH is providing free services,” he said.
KCH is a tertiary hospital and patients are required to pay a by-pass fee of K2 500 if they have not been referred from the other hospitals.
Moyo said they were happy that many people had accessed the free services because some of them had been in pain for a long time as they could not afford to pay the by-pass fee to get treated.
Blester Mara from Area 36 Township, whose tooth needed filling, was thankful for the free dental camp.
“Dental services are very costly in private hospitals. So, when I saw a message that there would be free dental services at KCH this week, I made it a point to come and get the filling done,” he said.
On her part, president of the Rotary Club of Lilongwe, Maliam Mdoko, indicated that as of noon on Friday, KCH had seen 762 patients and Bwaila 447.
“This means that the challenges are really there, and that we need to come up with more resources to organise more such camps. If the hospitals could have more hands, then we would be able to reach many people,” she said.
