Plzen, West Bohemia, Nov 12 (CTK) – The Czech Dentists’ Chamber (CSK) is opposed to swelling paperwork, a clear example of which is the system of compulsory electronic prescriptions to be in force as of January, CSK head Roman Smucler said on Sunday, adding that the burden has been rising at the cost of patients.
The administrative burden in stomatology is worth billions of crowns, a sum that patients finally have to cover, Smucler wrote in a press release after the CSK’s weekend congress in Plzen.
Simultaneously, the Czech Doctors’ Chamber (CLK) criticised the e-prescriptions system as poorly prepared and counter-productive at its own congress in Brno.
The CLK called on the Chamber of Deputies to use all available steps to adjourn the new system’s implementation.
Smucler said dentists issue only a couple of dozens of prescriptions a year, mainly for antibiotics, and that the sum that health insurers provide to them for a prescription cannot cover their costs of switching to e-prescriptions. Consequently, it will be up to patients to cover the costs, he said.
Unlike dentists, general practitioners will see their costs returned soon, because they issue thousands of prescriptions a year, the CSK stated.
As a compromise, the CSK proposes that e-prescriptions be compulsory for dentists issuing at least 120 prescriptions a year.
The CSK congress also discussed the problem of incoming foreign dentists who often lack the required qualification. This is mainly true of doctors coming from outside the EU.
At present, most of foreign dentists in the Czech Republic come from Russia – about 500, which is almost 10 percent of all dentists in the country.
