THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Mobile clinic delivers dental care to villages in the mountainous North | The Nation

Mobile clinic delivers dental care to villages in the mountainous North | The Nation

Communications channels and roads seem to reach every village in Thailand, except many in mountainous areas of the North that ethnic hill tribes call home. As a result, many still lack health centres offering the most rudimentary medical services.

The terrain restricts access to these remote villages. Instead of roads, there are only narrow, winding pathways leading to them.

Still, the dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at Chiang Mai University – Assistant Professor Dr Narumanas  Korwanich – continues to send mobile dental units to these villages to bring their residents the healthcare most Thais can easily access. 

Narumanas turns classrooms into temporary clinics for dental check-ups, tooth extractions, fillings, and for educating village residents about dental health, while the

Mobile clinic delivers dental care to villages in the mountainous North, Thailand
Saundok Hospital Foundation’s mobile medical unit provides general medical examinations, acupuncture, and cupping for children and those who cannot access basic public health services.

“Some villages do not have toilets or a health centre, and a trip to the doctor in the city is still difficult. Some people need to travel a whole week to reach one,” Narumanas explained.

 

Increasing access to dental and health care in mountain villages is necessary, he said, stressing that it is a fundamental right for every human being to have access to medical care.

Ensuring access to healthcare was also a goal of the late HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Recently, the Dental Innovation Foundation, which is under Royal Patronage, spent five days treating people in remote villages in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces.

Mobile clinic delivers dental care to villages in the mountainous North, Thailand

A total of 1,333 people received dental care and another 2,071 received general medical services. The mobile dental unit used the same equipment and medicine that hospitals in cities use,  Narumanas said.

The foundation is still inspired by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej's vision to bring healthcare to all.

Mobile clinic delivers dental care to villages in the mountainous North, Thailand


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