Madam, – Minister for Health Mary Harney states (Home News, September 30th) that reductions in funding will not be reversed in the budget. Is it not ironic that the Minister made her comments in the Dublin Dental University Hospital when 3,000 people were queuing to be screened for oral cancer in Cork and Dublin? The dentists concerned are to be strongly commended for this screening initiative, but surely Ms Harney must realise that queues and waiting lists are inevitable for dental patients unless the Government seeks to reverse the savage attacks it made on the medical card scheme and the dental benefit scheme.
Up until the last Budget eight out of 10 patients were entitled to free or subsidised dental care. Medical card holders are entitled by law to free dental care, but the HSE is now preventing family dentists from providing the full range of treatments to medical card holders.
The only consequence of failure to reverse these cuts will be queues for treatment and waiting lists becoming the everyday norm.
Important routine and preventive treatment must be prioritised and for the oral health of the nation we cannot see such a vital health issue neglected in the forthcoming budget.
Finally, I wish to advise readers that your local dentist will provide screening for mouth cancer and we would encourage readers who have concerns or queries to make an appointment with their local dentist.
– Yours, etc,