Cape Town - South African dentists are becoming increasingly concerned about the future of their profession in the country and their ability to earn an income that keeps up with inflation, according to a PPS survey.
The survey contacted more than 150 South African dentists.
The survey revealed that respondents’ confidence in the future of the profession in the country dropped by five percentage points to 59% from 64% in the previous quarter. Confidence levels on this issue have declined by a staggering 11% from the first three months of the year.
In addition, confidence levels amongst dentists in their ability to earn an income that keeps up with inflation have declined by seven percentage points since the first quarter of 2012, from 58% to 51%.
According to Gerhard Joubert, Head of Group Marketing and Stakeholder Relations at PPS, it is concerning that confidence levels among respondents regarding the future of the dental profession in the country have decreased.
“This drop is most likely related to changes currently taking place within the medical industry, such as the proposed introduction of low guideline tariffs by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.”
Some medical professionals are concerned that the low guideline tariffs will bring fees down to an unrealistic and unsustainable level, with the main purpose behind the decrease being to make fees more affordable for the government’s planned NHI scheme, said Joubert.
According to the survey, 61% of respondents said they did not agree with the principle behind NHI, up six percentage points on the previous quarter, with 84% of respondents saying that NHI was not the solution to fixing the country’s ailing healthcare system.
Confidence in their prospects of earning a sufficient income should NHI be implemented was also down one percentage point to 46%.
Maretha Smit, CEO at the South African Dental Association (SADA), said that the dental profession is concerned about the absence of oral health services in most tiers of the NHI Green Paper and efforts have been made through consultation with stakeholders to rectify this situation.
“As a result there were 10 NHI pilot districts where oral health services are presently being supplied and we hope that oral health, seen as part of general health, is included in the much anticipated White Paper. SADA is concerned that HPCSA determining guideline tariffs is a precursor to rates payable under NHI which are unsustainable”
Joubert said that a number of other statistics in the survey revealed urgent concerns about industry specific issues. “The survey showed that only seven percent of respondents feel that medical schemes provide adequately for oral health, which is down three percentage points from the previous quarter. SADA statistics back this up by revealing that payouts from medical schemes to dentistry had reduced from 8.4% in the late 1990s to 2.2% in 2011."
Also concerning was the 7% decrease (from 78% to 71%) in confidence levels amongst South African dentists during the year when asked whether they will remain in South Africa for the foreseeable future.
“It is highly worrisome that the results of these areas of questioning related to the sustainability of the future of the local dental industry have declined. The survey results highlight the importance of addressing the key concerns of the respondents that have been brought to the fore in order to attract and retain essential dental professionals in the country,” said Joubert.
While confidence levels on most of the surveyed elements decreased during the quarter, there were some bright spots.
Dentists appear more optimistic about the outlook for the
local equity/share markets over the next twelve months with confidence
increasing by four percentage points to 62% compared with the previous quarter.
Confidence in the future of the healthcare profession was up 1 percentage point
to 40%.
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