Dentists serving in government hospitals and dental institutions struck work yesterday causing a large numbers of patients to be turned away. General Secretary of the Government Dental Surgeons Association GDSA Dr. N. T. Gamage said the two-day token strike was to demand an immediate stop to the recruitment of school dental therapists.

He said that a special general meeting was to be held at 11 a.m. today (March 29) at the Dental Institute to discuss the possibilities of launching a continuous strike if the government did not grant their demands.

Over 1,000 government dental surgeons and 50 dental specialists participated in the strike.

The GDSA has continuously urged the government to stop recruiting school dental therapists, Gamage said adding that a letter had been addressed to the Health Minister accusing school dental therapists of being "totally incompetent to deliver complete treatment to children."

"National oral health indicates that dental diseases among children are on the increase," he said. "We do not see the need for the Health Ministry to incur an additional expenditure to train dental therapists with limited skills when taking into consideration the large number of unemployed dental surgeons.

The GDSA urged the Health Ministry to utilise these funds to improve standards of care to the public with more skilled and qualified personnel and better technology. Dr. Gamage pledged that the GDSA was prepared to cooperate with relevant authorities in introducing a new training program with a non-clinical community based syllabus.

The GDSA also wants the government to strengthen school dental services by appointing dental surgeons to school dental clinics. "School dental clinics should also be upgraded, he held.