Background:
After a year of working in a medical clinic we established on the border of Macedonia, Serbia with Syrian refugees and others who fled to Europe from Syria and other countries, we identified the urgent need for dental care for refugees.
Refugee camps were set up in Serbia and NATAN brought a mobile dental clinic (in suitcases) to provide dental care in the refugee camps.
Impact:
- Dental clinic treatments were in very high demand.
- The majority of cases were emergency care; fillings, extractions and treatment of oral infections
The condition of the mouths of refugees who reached us was shocking. We found infections, decay, rotten and neglected teeth. We purchased the equipment necessary for a mobile dental clinic which we sent together with the first delegation who deployed in one of the refugee camps in Serbia.
Impact in numbers:
- The project duration was one and a half months
- During the project we treated approximately 230 children and adult patients
- The clinic operated six days a week. 20 patients were treated each day.
- 2 volunteer dentists and one logistics expert made up the NATAN team
Toward the end of the second delegation’s stay a conflict arose between the Refugee Authority under which NATAN operated and the Ministry of Health of Serbia. Unfortunately, this conflict resulted in the closure of clinics by the Serbian Ministry of Health.