- JOHANNESBURG - Britain is
no longer the only English-speaking haven for disgruntled South African
dentists to make their fortune.
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- Australia and New Zealand have also opened their doors
to them, said Dr Neil Campbell, executive director of the South African
Dental Association (Sada), on Monday.
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- Dentists, like doctors, are upset because the government
now requires a certificate of need from them before they are allowed to
start a practice.
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- They also are angry because medical aids are allegedly
cutting oral-health benefits every year.
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- Those dentists who are not packing their bags are now
demanding, on Sada's suggestion, that patients pay in cash and slightly
more than medical aids are willing to pay.
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- In October 2002 there were 1 753 South African dentists
registered in Britain.
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- Campbell said government was pushing dentists into the
arms of foreign countries with its certificate of need.
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- R500m has come too late - Campbell
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- "New Zealand and Australia are targeting our dentists."
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- These countries are luring dentists to their government
sector, but encourage them to write an exam that will allow them to start
their own practices after three years.
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- Campbell said the government's decision to lure health
workers to the government sector and rural areas with R500m had come too
late.
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- He said many dentists had tried to establish practices
in small towns in the past, but they went under because people did not
have money in those areas.
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- Campbell blamed the government for the fact that medical-aid
schemes were cutting oral health benefits.
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- Since the government had forced medical-aid schemes to
cover certain chronic medication, the funds had cut benefits in other areas,
he said.
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- Edited by Iaine Harper
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1481177,00.html
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