Australian PM vows to tackle dental problems
The Australian Prime Minister has vowed to tackle dental health problems in this month’s Budget.
Julia Gillard said she will confront dental problems and introduce measures to improve access to dental care across Australia. Gillard announced plans to create a bonus scheme for trainee dentists who complete their training in a public setting; trainee dentists will be given $15,000 on completion of a four year internship programme. The new programme will provide 150 internships.
The Prime Minister has announced the measure as a means of tackling the shortage of dentists; currently, there are problems with access to dental care across the country and some people are being forced to wait well over a year for routine treatment. Access in rural and remote areas is particularly bad and some patients have to travel long distances to see a dentist. Gillard believes the new internship programme will help to encourage dentists to train in the public system.
Initially, when the coalition government was formed, the Labor party agreed to create a universal dental system, a policy which was promoted by the Green party; however, the Labor party now says that there is not enough money available to change the current system and this policy will have to wait until the economic situation has improved and the deficit has been reduced.
The Budget is set to be unveiled tomorrow.
Join this Discussion
Inturnship = no pay, so correct me if im wrong,15 thousand dollars on completion, sounds too little to late. for a 4year inturnship? Yes they will be banging down the doors to joinup for that one. GO JUlES.