Roadmap for oral health scheme ready

All States should have one Nodal officer with a qualification of MDS Public health dentistry: experts

May 15, 2017 12:41 am | Updated 08:11 am IST - PUDUCHERRY

National Oral Health Programme at a recently concluded 11th National Public Health Dentistry Conference

National Oral Health Programme at a recently concluded 11th National Public Health Dentistry Conference

Public health dentistry experts have evolved a roadmap for the implementation of National Oral Health Programme (NHOP) at a recently concluded 11th National Public Health Dentistry Conference.

A key recommendation for the effective implementation of the programme was that all the States should preferably have one Nodal officer or Oral Health Consultant for NOHP with a qualification of MDS Public health dentistry.

Experts assembled at the meet, which also marked the 11th National PG Convention of the Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry (IAPHD) hosted by the Department Of Public Health Dentistry Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, suggested that all private public health dentistry departments provide services as directed by the Nodal officer and be supported as proposed by the policy framework.

The State Nodal officer would be mandated to evaluate and monitor the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and allocate the districts for each dental college for NOHP.

It was also suggested that the IAPHD provide a policy framework for the implementation of PPP model by involving the public health dentistry departments of all dental institutes for better implementation of NOHP.

According to experts, this framework, once drafted, would be submitted to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for discussion and necessary action at all appropriate levels.

The two-day conclave was inaugurated by R.K. Bali, former president, Dental Council of India.

Sabyasachi Saha, honorary secretary, Dental Council of India, K.R Sethuraman, Vice-Chancellor, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Aswath Narayanan, president, IAPHD, and Carounanidy Usha, Dean, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, participated.

One of the high points of the conference was the formulation of ‘The Puducherry Declaration for Implementation of the NOHP’ which was also submitted to the Centre at the conclusion of a panel discussion on the theme ‘Oral Health Programmes-Reaching the Unreached.’

Exploring PPP model

Earlier, a panel discussion on “Implementation of National Oral Health Programme sought to explore the possibilities of PPP model in implementation of NOHP for achieving better oral health and come up with strategies and mechanism for the effective implementation.

Swasthi Charan, programme director, NOHP, provided an overview of the programme. He elaborated on the current status of implementation of NOHP so far in the country.

P.D. Madan Kumar, Head of Department, Public Health Dentistry, Ragas Dental College, Chennai, drew out the magnitude of the collaborative exercise in involving all the 300 odd Public health dentistry departments in all the dental colleges (government and private) in the county in a PPP model as per fourth objective given in the operational guidelines of NOHP.

Aswath Narayanan, State Nodal Officer, NOHP, Tamil Nadu, argued that the effective planning of PPP model will make NOHP document more effective in achieving better oral health but added that there should be a stringent monitoring and evaluation system to avoid wastage of resources.

Arpit Gupta, assistant professor, PGIMER, spoke about the future direction of NOHP implementation while O. Kavipriya, State Nodal Officer, NOHP, Puducherry, suggested each dental college can be given one district for effective implementation of the NOHP with proper evaluation and monitoring system.

Harsh Priya, National Centre of Excellence for Implementation of the National Oral Health Programme, AIIMS, New Delhi, Vikneshan, Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Akila Ganesh, Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, M. Senthil, professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, SBV, and Indra Priyadarshni, Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Priyadharashini Dental College and Hospital, Thiruvallur, Chennai, were among the experts at the deliberations.

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