Dental facilities still inadequate in India : Vardhan

The facilities for dental treatment and oral health are still inadequate in India and in the rural areas, they are practically absent, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today.
To mitigate this, the Minister said the coming years would see more investment into dental hospitals and colleges at the national and regional levels. These would be fitted out with the latest sophisticated equipment and research facilities, said Vardhan while inaugurating the Centre for Oral Health Promotion at the Centre for Dental Education and Research at AIIMS today.
"Doctors on their own should act as points of dissemination of information on positive and healthy habits. While the government will do its duty of framing policies and schemes and implementing them, it would require the cooperation and involvement of all to make 'health for all' a social movement," Vardhan said.

The World Health Organisation has recognised the new centre as a partner. The Minister while praising the standards at AIIMS observed that while equipment and personnel could be rolled out, education of the masses on the connection between dental caries and cavities and heart and kidney conditions should not be ignored.
The Minister spent over three hours inspecting the new facility and also the new Centre of Excellence for Stem Cell Research at the Cardio Thoracic Centre of AIIMS.
The new facility has come with the support of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.