asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that there is only one dentist available to medical card holders in County Galway who need dental treatment; and if he considers that this is adequate in view of the large population there.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - County Galway Dental Treatment Facilities.
16.
Three private dentists practising in Galway provide services for medical card holders under the choice-of-dentist scheme. I understand however that only one of these is at present accepting new patients. In addition there are eight health board dental surgeons in the Galway area. These may provide emergency treatment for medical card holders.
There is no adult waiting list in the area. Last June there were 375 adults awaiting treatment while the number awaiting treatment on 31 December 1978 was 1,957. It is clear that the service available for medical card holders in the Galway area has improved significantly during the last two years.
I hate to think that a time will ever come when the Minister or some of his colleagues in answering a question will have to refer to some previous Government and what they did. Is the Minister aware that a list given to me by the Western Health Board shows that there is only one dentist listed in Galway, at Loughrea whereas there are five or six in Mayo and places like that? In view of the number of medical card holders in the county surely this is not sufficient?
This is the free scheme into which the dentists entered. I would be very happy if more dentists would operate within the scheme. It was introduced on a trial period up to 31 March 1980 and improved terms and some other arrangements were to be negotiated in between. These were negotiated and since then some of the dentists who withdrew from the scheme have come back into it. I hope that will be the case in Galway.
Is the Minister telling me that there is more than one dentist to deal with medical card holders? How many dentists are there to deal with medical card holders?
There are three, but two have said that they are not taking additional people.
Surely the Minister must accept that there is need for more dentists?
More dentists generally?
No, for this particular service.
I would be happy to see more dentists joining the scheme in that area. I hope that would be the case.
There is no point in being so nice about it. It is the job of the Minister to do something about this.
We have given new terms and some improvements.