A funding commitment for the Royal Flying Doctor Service until mid-2020 and $11 million towards rural and remote dental services was announced by Bass MHR Andrew Nikolic on Tuesday.
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Speaking at the RFDS Tasmania headquarters at Launceston Airport, Mr Nikolic said if the Turnbull government was re-elected, the contract extension would allow for continued investment in critical infrastructure.
“This is fantastic news, not just for the people on the Bass Islands, but for people right across rural and remote Australia,” he said.
“It’s not just funding certainty to 2020 but to make sure our remote communities in particular, and young people in particular, can get access to the dental treatment that we take for granted here on the mainland.”
The current contract with the RFDS was due to expire on July 1, 2017 and had previously been extended every two years.
RFDS chief executive officer Martin Laverty said certainty is important when running a large organisation like the service, which employs 1200 people across the country.
“Continuing our aeromedical program in country Australia until mid-2020 guarantees access to doctors for those who live in remote areas [and] it also guarantees our aeromedical service will continue to provide emergency care to people in remote Australia,” he said.
“Providing $11 million over the next two years for Flying Doctor dental outreach will allow expansion of our existing dental services.
“In Tasmania, it means we can start a brand new service where previously we’ve simply not had funds available.”
John Kirwan, the RFDS Tasmania chief, said in the past a private dentist had been hired to visit Flinders Island, but there were gaps in remote areas of mainland Tasmania.
“We’ve got a template to follow in Victoria where they have actually fitted out a van, and RFDS dentists and dental assistants are now going to the remote areas of Victoria… we had that on our planning as something we would like to do but this allows us to progress it really quickly,” he said.
Mr Kirwan said the overall funding commitment to 2020 meant extra focus can be given to preventative health services in Tasmania.
”It really allows us to have a four year guaranteed funding envelope, to actually sit down with those three Bass Strait islands and work out what they really need and what we can do,” Mr Kirwan said.