 The dental clinic team. |  The inauguration of the clinic in 2009. |
A dental clinic in Kenya providing free treatment to a poor local community has re-opened its doors thanks to ongoing support from Maidenhead Rotarians.
The fortnightly Makindu Dental Clinic was forced to abruptly close at the outbreak of the pandemic last year after providing free dental treatment for the last 10 years with the help of Maidenhead Rotary Club and the individual fundraising efforts of member Gurdip Bahra.
The fortnightly Makindu Dental Clinic was forced to abruptly close at the outbreak of the pandemic last year after providing free dental treatment for the last 10 years with the help of Maidenhead Rotary Club and the individual fundraising efforts of member Gurdip Bahra.
 A dental camp provided by dentists from Rotarian Gurdip Bahra's family was replaced by the fortnightly clinics in 2009.  A patient is treated at the clinic. | But after careful planning and thanks to the hard work of the dental team, the clinic restarted last weekend to offer its much-needed services. Operating in the secure precincts of the Sikh Temple Hospital in Makindu, the fortnightly clinic sees an average of 60 patients each weekend it runs. The clinic began in 2009, replacing a dental camp held once or twice a year which saw dentists from Gurdip’s family travel to Makindu to treat up to 300 patients. It is co-ordinated by Dr PS Jandu, Gurdip’s dentist brother-in-law based in Nairobi, who was instrumental in setting it up. The launch of the regular fortnightly free clinic (the club’s Quadrilateral Project in 2009) was attended by Gurdip and fellow Rotarian Frank Knowles who travelled to Makindu for the inauguration. Funding included providing a fully-equipped dental suite with two new dental chairs and a portable X-ray unit among other equipment. The club has recently sent a donation of £1,486 to help with the re-opening of the clinic under Covid restrictions. Gurdip said: “We can all be proud that Rotary has been part of a successful project over the last ten years which has made a huge impact on the lives of the underprivileged people of Makindu and the environs. “This would not have been possible without the dedication of the local dental team and Sikh Temple in Makindu who provide not only a safe and secure environment for the clinic to operate in with good infrastructure, but also offer free food and accommodation to the professionals who travel from Nairobi to run the clinic.” |