Flying Doctors Hoping to Tap into Dental Budget
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is hoping to use parts of the excess dental budget to fund a mobile dental service in Queensland.
The service is hoping to use some of the $4.1 million promised by the Government to fund a mobile service, which should be up and running by the end of 2012. The Queensland division of the Royal Flying Doctor Service has just received funding to launch a pilot project for remote areas of the state. The Health and Hospital Fund have provided approximately $1 million for the programme.
The RFDS is expected to reveal which areas are to be covered by the pilot project in the near future. Dentists and dental assistants have already been recruited for the trial scheme.
Nino Di Marco, Queensland chief executive of the RFDS, said that continued funding is required for the programme. He intends to investigate the possibility of securing funding for a long-term mobile service from the federal dental package, which has recently been unveiled by Julia Gillard’s Government.
Mr Di Marco stated that the service is extremely important because those who are living in remote and rural areas are going without routine dental treatment and those who require urgent treatment are unable to see a dentist without travelling long distances.
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