Dentists condemn medical card move

DENTISTS have condemned the Health Service Executive’s decision to reduce the medical card scheme to one that only provides limited emergency cover.

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) said the move meant that medical card holders would be denied a range of routine free treatments, including fillings and extractions as well as dentures and treatment of gum disease.

In a circular sent to dentists the HSE said it would only provide emergency dental care to eligible patients with a focus on relief of pain and sepsis.

The IDA said the health authority would only consider additional care in exceptional or high-risk cases. The circular did not say when the new regulations would come into force.

The association described the change in dental cover as unsafe, unworkable and unethical and one that would hit the most vulnerable hardest.

According to HSE figures the number of medical care holders is expected to exceed 1.6m this year.

IDA chief executive Fintan Hourihan said the HSE’s decision, in effect, created a two-tier system between private and public patients. The cuts did not make any financial sense as every case of delayed treatment would require hugely expensive treatment in future years.

“Last months we warned that the 30% cut in HSE funding would lead to nearly half a million less treatments for medical card holders. What we didn’t know then was how the HSE would ration the available number of treatments. Now we do,” said Mr Hourihan.

“Our members are being asked to provide inadequate and inappropriate treatments for patients and it just won’t work,” he said.