Many patients in Kuinga, North Fly District of Western Province are currently being affected due to a lack of dental services. There is no specialist dentist at the Kiunga District Hospital which have caused many patients suffering from toothache problems seeking dental services elsewhere for treatment. Over 1,000 patients within the district have been struggling to access this service for more than 20 years. The district hospital right in the town area has been referring patients to seek dental services in Tabubil hospital. Frustrated patients expressed that fees charged to remove their tooth cost K100 and a bus fee from Kiunga to Tabubil cost K100 both ways which is not affordable for patients especially coming from the rural villages within the district and Western Province at large. A concerned patient Roy Orovet suffering from toothache problem said it is too expensive to seek dental services in private clinic or the company hospital in Tabubil. "I've spent more than K500 to get treatment which is not good and dental services supposed to be provided in Kiunga for easy access." he said. He said most patients remain in their villages and do not go to seek treatment due to this ongoing problem. The last recorded dental service was provided in 2018 and since then, patients have been given open referrals to date. The Kiunga District Hospital management clarified to patients and the people of North Fly that all dental equipment are available but there are no dentists. It is understood the Western Provincial Health Authority (WPHA) has noted this issue two years ago, but the delay is due to slow process of recruitment and lack of co-operation from the provincial leaders. In a recent provincial development forum held in Daru, such issues in the health sector within the province were noted to be addressed but nothing has been done since the beginning of this year. Several attempts made to get comments from Western PHA were unsuccessful. Patients in North Fly District are now calling on the Fly River Provincial Government, the Provincial Executive Council (PEC) members and Western PHA to help address this issue so that effective dental services can be provided at the district hospital in Kiunga.