North West patients needing dental care are fed up with constant treatment delays at some clinics, saying first they had to wait months because of anaesthetic injection shortages, and now water problems are holding up procedures, reports Health-e News.
The Itsoseng Community Health Centre in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality has been plagued with problems for months, according to locals. When Tefo Mmokwa (42) went to the centre during the Easter holidays with a painful tooth, he hoped to have it extracted, but was turned away because there was no water or any local anaesthetising injections available.
He said he has been turned away several times since last year because of either the shortages or water interruptions.
He eventually forked out R164 to travel about 60km to Mahikeng Provincial Hospital for treatment, because General De La Rey Hospital in Lichtenburg, about 35km away, also had a shortage of anaesthetic injections.
Mmokwa said that during this time he suffered from swollen gums, ear infections and severe headaches.
“At Itsoseng, they only take 10 patients a day. Some patients arrive at 5am, but still have to be turned back,” he added.
Another patient, Kenalemang Thukgwe (34), has been turned away from Itsoseng Community Health Centre three times this year, the last two visits being in June and July. She was given mouthwash and painkillers but still has terrible pain from a rotten tooth that needs to be extracted.
She can’t afford transport to Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.
When Health-e News visited Itsoseng Centre last week, an employee said a small supply of injections had arrived, but extractions could still not be done because there was no water.
There are water storage tanks on site but staff say these can’t be filled during municipal water interruptions.
Health-e News was told the facility is waiting for the Department of Public Works to resolve the problem.
Dr Bulela Vava, dentist and founder of the Public Oral Health Forum, said interrupted water supply affects infection prevention, sanitation and general safe dental care, and that delayed treatment can have serious consequences.
“Delays can lead to worsening infections, unnecessary suffering and higher healthcare costs when patients eventually require more complex interventions,” he added, and in severe cases, can cause life-threatening conditions like Ludwig’s angina, a fast-spreading bacterial infection.
He noted that the shortage of Xylotox – a brand name of local anaesthetics widely used in dental practice – was a challenge that had persisted for more than a decade in health facilities across the country.
North West Department of Health spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane said there have been anaesthetic shortages since April, affecting facilities in several provinces and caused by global supply chain disruptions. “It is not an issue unique to General De La Rey Hospital or Itsoseng Community Health Centre,” he added.
The Department was aware of the intermittent water supply, but did not say when the issue would be resolved.
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