410. Check-dentist dominates campaign to Order

The dental checks threaten to dominate the struggle for leadership of the Order of Dentists. The current president calls the measure tooth and nail, but the opposition accused it of undermining the professional dignity.

Elections are scheduled for next December 12, but the debate has already begun to heat up a few weeks ago. Apart from proposals for each of the lists - which match up some points - he settled the controversy surrounding the National Program of Oral Health and especially the dental checks.

Instituted by the Ministry of Health for eight months, dental checks offer basic dental care for children, elderly and pregnant women in private clinics that adhere to the initiative and receive, for each query, the fixed value of 40 euros. Driven by the current president and candidate for reelection Orlando Monteiro da Silva, the program violates the dignity of the profession guarantees the opponent Fernando Guerra.

The candidate list B denounces a way, a model and an inconceivable period of operation, which does not contribute to the defense of the oral health of the population covered. With the amounts involved, there are treatments that are needed from outside, ensures Fernando Guerra, who argues that the check-dentist should not have a predefined value. There should be a different table for each treatment, he says, advocating for change of name of the measure for reimbursement of medical and dental instrument.
Fernando Guerra also accuses the current management of the OMD to go along with political power, to have been a major driver for the dissemination of dental checks. A measure that guarantees against the dignity of professionals, playing with surplus manpower in the market and reveals late payments at around five months. For the candidate, the Dental Association (OMD) has to be upstream of these programs, draw them and not limited to collude with them.

Orlando Monteiro da Silva, the list ahead of the elections, rejects the accusations of the opposition. The proposed overhaul of the program presented by the list B would equal the end of dental checks, ensures the current president. Why go back to the logic of a public health program: we must distinguish between the liberal practice of the profession and adherence to a voluntary program with agreed rules and they have to meet.

List A denies five months late in payments to dentists who have joined. There are delays, up to three months in some cases, but many of them stem from errors in billing for the professionals themselves. As for the treatments, Orlando Monteiro da Silva recalled that it was a social program, which involves the provision of basic treatments, as elected by a scientific priorities. It is not collude with power, guarantees, since it also criticizes what's wrong. And the facts belie the claims: there are over 3200 medical associates, nearly 350 000 people and covered 43 million euros allocated to the program.

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