K. Irudayaraj (name changed), a hotel employee from Tallakulam, recently approached the Dental Surgery department of Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) for a root canal treatment as he could not afford it at private hospitals, which estimated the procedure to cost around Rs. 5,000.
However, staff at the department allegedly informed him that root canal procedures were done only in Tamil Nadu Government Dental College in Chennai.
Mr. Irudayaraj’s case was not an isolated incident as many patients have claimed that most of the expensive and complex dental procedures are not done at GRH, despite availability of adequate infrastructure.
The Dental Surgery department has two professors, a periodontist, a pediodontist, an oral pathologist and a dental technician. The strength is relatively higher compared to the crucial yet short-staffed departments like cardiology and vascular surgery. According to one of the staff members, an average of about 100 patients visit the outpatient ward of the department daily. It also has a 12-bedded inpatient ward, where persons incurring serious injuries in their gums and teeth in accidents are treated.
Though M.R. Vairamuthu Raju, Dean of GRH, said that all the procedures were done at the department as required, a source at the department acknowledged that procedures like fitting of ‘crown’ or ‘cap’, root canal and tooth replacements with dental implants were not done. A nursing staff said that the treatment provided mainly included removal of tooth, cavity filling and fitting of dental braces.
Condemning the non-availability of treatment, C. Anandaraj, a health rights activist from Madurai, accused the doctors of prioritising their private practice. “Even those who cannot afford treatment at private hospitals are forced to go there,” he said.
Non-inclusionA senior doctor from GRH pointed out that non-inclusion of dental procedures in the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) was a disincentive for the doctors.
“Number of surgeries performed in various departments has considerably increased since the doctors and the respective departments receive a percentage of the CMCHIS money for every surgery performed. Since that is not available for dental procedures, barring a few, doctors do not show much interest,” he said.
J. Kanna Peruman, Director of Nala Dental Hospital here, said that it was high time that a few necessary dental procedures were covered in insurance schemes. “There is a general opinion that everything related to dentistry is cosmetic. But it is also about oral care like tooth decay, which may even lead to oral cancer,” he said.
“Similar to western countries, procedures like root canal treatment should be included in insurance schemes so that more people can afford them,” he added.
