![[Pakistan] Dental care is largely unavailable in quake-affected northern Pakistan. [Date picture taken: 08/17/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200681712.jpg.webp?itok=308Szrgb "Emergency dental care is virtually nonexistent in Pakistan's quake-affected north")
At least 150 patients a day walk into the Jinnah Dental Hospital outside Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Dr Saif Deen, the hospital's executive director, said many had severe dental injuries caused by the landslides that had struck during this year's monsoon season. Fractured jaws were common, an injury the facility was not equipped to deal with.
“We [the hospital] receive severe fractures weekly,” Deen said. “This [region] is a drama zone. There are tremors, flooding and landslides and people fall or get crushed under things. During this [monsoon] season many accidents happen and we don’t have the space or facilities for this.”
The centre, previously a teaching and training facility for dental care, became an open dental hospital after the earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that struck northern Pakistan on 8 October last year killing more than 75,000 and leaving 3.5 million homeless.
The hospital is the one of the few of its kind operating in Muzaffarabad district, with resources scarce and many patients left unattended and waiting.
“This hospital has a lot of problems – mainly financially. Being the only dental hospital, resources and funding are just not enough,” Deen lamented.
“We were lucky because it [the hospital] was not completely smashed [by the earthquake] but some parts of it are still too dangerous to work in. We simply do not have space [for treatment], nor the funding and money,” he continued.
“In this hospital we can treat minor things but for major surgeries - from landslide accidents for example – we need to send to another hospital, which is unfortunately not a dental hospital,” Deen said.
Flooding and landslides have killed at least 200 people in Pakistan since the monsoon season started in mid-July.
Patients needing serious dental surgery that could not be performed at Deen's facility were sent to Abbas Hospital in the Jhelum Valley.
However, the hospital had only a small room for dental care, one dental chair and no surgeon.
“We don’t have a complete set of equipment yet - perhaps within three to four weeks. And we don’t have a surgeon yet,” a technician at the Abbas facility said.
Those who could not be treated at either facility had to travel to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, or the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi, both 100 km to the southwest. The monsoon had ruined many transport links.
“Some people can’t even come to Jinnah Dental Hospital because of road blocks from landslides. And when they finally come here, we can’t always treat them. Sending them to the next clinic and then the next. Life is very difficult, especially after the earthquake and now with the monsoon season,” Deen maintained.
AJ/JL/GS/DS
Dr Saif Deen, the hospital's executive director, said many had severe dental injuries caused by the landslides that had struck during this year's monsoon season. Fractured jaws were common, an injury the facility was not equipped to deal with.
“We [the hospital] receive severe fractures weekly,” Deen said. “This [region] is a drama zone. There are tremors, flooding and landslides and people fall or get crushed under things. During this [monsoon] season many accidents happen and we don’t have the space or facilities for this.”
The centre, previously a teaching and training facility for dental care, became an open dental hospital after the earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that struck northern Pakistan on 8 October last year killing more than 75,000 and leaving 3.5 million homeless.
The hospital is the one of the few of its kind operating in Muzaffarabad district, with resources scarce and many patients left unattended and waiting.
“This hospital has a lot of problems – mainly financially. Being the only dental hospital, resources and funding are just not enough,” Deen lamented.
“We were lucky because it [the hospital] was not completely smashed [by the earthquake] but some parts of it are still too dangerous to work in. We simply do not have space [for treatment], nor the funding and money,” he continued.
“In this hospital we can treat minor things but for major surgeries - from landslide accidents for example – we need to send to another hospital, which is unfortunately not a dental hospital,” Deen said.
Flooding and landslides have killed at least 200 people in Pakistan since the monsoon season started in mid-July.
Patients needing serious dental surgery that could not be performed at Deen's facility were sent to Abbas Hospital in the Jhelum Valley.
However, the hospital had only a small room for dental care, one dental chair and no surgeon.
“We don’t have a complete set of equipment yet - perhaps within three to four weeks. And we don’t have a surgeon yet,” a technician at the Abbas facility said.
Those who could not be treated at either facility had to travel to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, or the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi, both 100 km to the southwest. The monsoon had ruined many transport links.
“Some people can’t even come to Jinnah Dental Hospital because of road blocks from landslides. And when they finally come here, we can’t always treat them. Sending them to the next clinic and then the next. Life is very difficult, especially after the earthquake and now with the monsoon season,” Deen maintained.
AJ/JL/GS/DS
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