Of the 312 thousand people who received the dental check, 106 thousand did not use the voucher, advances the newspaper Público.
In 2019, 33.8% of the beneficiaries of the dental check did not take advantage of this voucher, which covers population groups considered vulnerable (pregnant women, elderly beneficiaries of the social supplement, people with HIV / AIDS and children and young people - 7, 10, 13, 16 and 18 years). The data from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) is the headline in today's edition, January 9, of the newspaper Público. In declarations to the morning, the president of the OMD is dissatisfied with this scenario, but highlights the absolute numbers (number of checks issued and used), in which there is an 80% use of the dental check. Both Ordem and DGS consider this percentage to be high and should remain stable. “We do not expect that there will be a big increase [in the percentage of users], because there are many people who have health insurance or ADSE”, explains Margarida Jordão, from the DGS oral health team, to Público.
OMD and DGS justify the data with the fact that many beneficiaries do not want to change their dentist, especially in the case of children, who are the main group covered by the National Oral Health Promotion Program. Orlando Monteiro da Silva also points out the lack of literacy and the difficulty of transporting children to the offices, in the case of some locations, as reasons for the waste of vouchers. As for the extension to children between two and six years old, proposed by the OMD and which is foreseen in the Government's program, the newspaper reports that there is no scheduled date for its entry into force. “We hope that it will be as soon as possible and that we will not start thinking about it until 2023, creating a working group”, says Orlando Monteiro da Silva.
Questioned by Antena 1 and TSF about the data released today, the president also defends that it is necessary to bet on a greater disclosure of the dental check, even because the need exists. Their non-use often happens because “they either do not want to or do not have knowledge or have other subsystems”, he explains to Antena 1. And he adds to TSF that, in the case of children, “there should be a responsibility of the parents, namely in terms of follow-up, which is to prevent children from having dental caries and other diseases ”.
Orlando Monteiro da Silva suggests reusing unused checks to extend the program to all pregnant women (and not just those accompanied at health centers) and children (and not just those in public education) and greater access for beneficiaries who actually do use of the dental check. Público also takes stock of the presence of dentists in the National Health Service (SNS). Until December 2019, the project, which started in 2016, had 111 dentistry offices in about a third of the 91 municipalities in the country. Therefore, Orlando Monteiro da Silva says, “a dentist for municipalities where there are 400 or 500 thousand inhabitants is far from enough”.
The result, he complains, translates into increasing waiting lists and the precariousness of the professionals, who “are recruited by service providers and only stay a year in the health centers, with all that that represents a loss for themselves and for users ”. Orlando Monteiro da Silva warns of the urgency of approving the creation of the career of dentist in the SNS, which is in the drawer of the Ministry of Finance, after being approved by the Ministry of Health.
OMD and DGS justify the data with the fact that many beneficiaries do not want to change their dentist, especially in the case of children, who are the main group covered by the National Oral Health Promotion Program. Orlando Monteiro da Silva also points out the lack of literacy and the difficulty of transporting children to the offices, in the case of some locations, as reasons for the waste of vouchers. As for the extension to children between two and six years old, proposed by the OMD and which is foreseen in the Government's program, the newspaper reports that there is no scheduled date for its entry into force. “We hope that it will be as soon as possible and that we will not start thinking about it until 2023, creating a working group”, says Orlando Monteiro da Silva.
Questioned by Antena 1 and TSF about the data released today, the president also defends that it is necessary to bet on a greater disclosure of the dental check, even because the need exists. Their non-use often happens because “they either do not want to or do not have knowledge or have other subsystems”, he explains to Antena 1. And he adds to TSF that, in the case of children, “there should be a responsibility of the parents, namely in terms of follow-up, which is to prevent children from having dental caries and other diseases ”.
Orlando Monteiro da Silva suggests reusing unused checks to extend the program to all pregnant women (and not just those accompanied at health centers) and children (and not just those in public education) and greater access for beneficiaries who actually do use of the dental check. Público also takes stock of the presence of dentists in the National Health Service (SNS). Until December 2019, the project, which started in 2016, had 111 dentistry offices in about a third of the 91 municipalities in the country. Therefore, Orlando Monteiro da Silva says, “a dentist for municipalities where there are 400 or 500 thousand inhabitants is far from enough”.
The result, he complains, translates into increasing waiting lists and the precariousness of the professionals, who “are recruited by service providers and only stay a year in the health centers, with all that that represents a loss for themselves and for users ”. Orlando Monteiro da Silva warns of the urgency of approving the creation of the career of dentist in the SNS, which is in the drawer of the Ministry of Finance, after being approved by the Ministry of Health.
