KOTA KINABALU: Hospital Universiti Malaysia Sabah (HUMS) is set to extend dental services to the general public following the upgrade of its Alawa dental clinic that previously only catered to employees and students.
HUMS director Prof Dr Helen Benedict Lasimbang said opening the services to the public was made possible after two dental room units at the UMS Resident Treatment Centre were upgraded to become a dental clinic under a development allocation by the Higher Education Ministry.
She said the dental services introduced in 2007 at the centre only covered basic treatment such as extraction and scaling for UMS staff and students, as it only consisted of a narrow room with minimal facilities.
"The room has been widened with more sophisticated facilities and we are now able to extend its use to the public.
"One of the reasons for this is to raise the value of corporate social responsibility and services to the public for all groups to receive health care," she said at the opening ceremony of the dental clinic officiated by UMS vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor on Wednesday (March 22).
Prof Lasimbang said that currently only three surgery rooms were equipped with proper dental chair facilities and HUMS will add two units of dental chairs so that all five surgery rooms will be able to take in patients.
"At the same time, a dental laboratory was also developed to create services for manufacturing false teeth (flexible or acrylic), sports mouthguards or nightguards, and removable orthodontic appliances.
"In addition, dental X-ray services are also provided at reasonable prices," she said.
In his speech, Prof Kasim said UMS looked forward to public feedback on the services at the Alawa HUMS Dental Clinic.
"My hope is that the clinic will benefit everyone, but we must ensure that the quality of its services is maintained and also improved from time to time," he added.
