| Publication: | The Australian |
|---|---|
| Date: | 6 March 2010 |
| Section: | National |
Article excerpt:
AS politicians, economists and health policy experts pick over the Rudd government's reform blueprint announced on Wednesday, a key group of healthcare professionals has little to consider.
Many questions regarding funding for dental services and training of dentists and oral surgeons remain unanswered.
"The one issue that no one has discussed is the fact that [public] teaching hospitals have the fundamental role in teaching the next generation of dentists," says Westmead Hospital's Mark Schifter, who is clinical associate professor in the University of Sydney's faculty of dentistry.
"That takes money," he adds, noting that dental training is particularly expensive as it takes place "in the dental chair", each of which costs $50,000 to $100,000 and excludes supplies.
According to Schifter, this week's plan to use activity-based, or case-mix, funding has no provision for the costs of training dental specialists.
He says dental training is already underfunded, relying on the goodwill of private practitioners to work with students in public hospitals.
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