The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
THE Zimbabwe Dental Surgery Assistants Association (ZDSAS), a body which represents the interests of dental surgery assistants, is calling for the speeding up of efforts that are aimed at professionalising their work.
Ms Jestina Nkala, the ZDSAS president, told The Sunday Mail Online that there has been a lukewarm response to efforts to formalise their profession.
“We approached the Medical Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe with a request to have the work of dental surgery assistants registered and regularised. We are yet to get a response,” Nkala said.
Ms Julian Mashingaidze, the secretary of the Medical Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe, referred this publication to the council’s registrar, who was not immediately available.
According to Ms Nkala, ZDSAS has also requested for the dental surgeon assistants national diploma to be examinable under the Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco).
The national diploma in dental surgery assistant is the first programme offering a structured and formal training for dental surgery assistants and nurses in the country.
The programme is offered by Zimbabwe Academy of Dental Nurses (ZADENU), which was the brainchild of a group of dentists and dental therapists.
Before the introduction of the training programme, dental surgery assistants had no formal training and mainly received on-the-job training.
Nkala said there is need for dental surgery assistants to be given practising licences as is the case with other health-related professionals.
“Dental surgery assistants are professionals just like pharmacy technicians, hospital nurses and environmental health technicians. Without professional recognition, dental surgery assistants are often grouped under low-employment grades. Professionalising our trade will address this anomaly.”
She said dental surgery assistants are being prejudiced due to the fact that their work is not viewed as a profession.
Although there are hundreds of dental surgery assistants that are practising throughout the country, the country only has 21 trained dental surgeon assistants.
