The Afghan Dental Clinic is now open in Kabul!

The Afghan Dental Relief Project was begun by Dr. James Rolfe just after the war in Afghanistan was thought to be over. Dr. Rolfe traveled to Afghanistan carrying 500 pounds of dental equipment and worked to provide as much dental service as he could on two short visits. On his second visit, he approached local government officials with the idea of building a dental clinic in a shipping container and taking it to Afghanistan.

He built the clinic in Kabul, after a very arduous and expensive political struggle. It is constructed from four shipping containers which were placed in a square, with a roof built over the area in the middle. It is placed on land adjacent to a home that has been donated for the next three years so that dentists and other dental personnel can travel to Kabul to donate their time working at the clinic.

The clinic will provide free or low-cost dental services to the many needy of the area, and it will also provide regular dental care to those who can afford it.

The country of Afghanistan had one dental x-ray unit when this project began back in 2002, and a total of about 134 dentists. That is a country with a population of about what California – and none of the thousands of dentists working here would dream of working without an x-ray machine.

Dr. Rolfe’s clinic has three modern dental operatories each with its own x-ray machine. It has a sterilizing section and a dental laboratory. He also built in a generator as the power supply there is uncertain, and it has its own water system with hot and cold running water.

In addition, Dr. Rolfe has taken to Afghanistan two other containers jammed with all sorts of dental equipment and other donations; such as hundreds of pairs of shoes for kids. He has enough dental equipment to start a school to train dentists, dental technicians, and dental assistants; he has fluoride to start a fluoride program for the country, and is looking for people willing to go there to help with this tremendous project.

The Mid San Fernando Valley Rotary Club and the San Fernando Valley Chapter of UNA-USA helped raise funds for the project in 2006. AND, it was the Rotary Club of Kabul that finally "imported" the clinic as Dr. Rolfe had NGO status in the US, but not in Afghanistan. But the Rotary Club is an Afghan NGO and in its non-governmental status it got the clinic across the border and is assisting in its installation. From a April fundraiserthis year the UNA group gave all proceeds to the Rotary club and a matching grant through Rotary International will get another $10,150.00 to pay for getting electricity to the clinic and rewiring parts of the house (and other fix-it projects) to make it better for visiting doctors and support staff. The SFV Chaper of UNA-USA and the Rotary Club are proud of their role in this project.

Chatsworth Dental Group
21800 Devonshire Street Chatsworth, CA 91311 
818-709-1200