MP asks about dentobuses

As part of the project, 16 dentobuses were ordered in 2017, one for each province. The cost of the purchase was PLN 24 million, and the goal of the project was to treat tooth decay in children from small towns and villages who had difficult access to dental care in larger urban centers.

As the author of the interpellation reminds us, the implementation of the program took place from the beginning under the shadow of problems. Already in 2018, the media reported that of the 16 vehicles purchased, only three went to Poland and examined 300 children. That same year, a report by the Supreme Audit Office on child and pupil health care found that the purchase of dentobuses was an ad hoc measure and did not improve the dental status of children and adolescents.

"As of March 21, 2018, they had not been transferred for use and remained in escrow with the seller. The National Health Fund has not signed any contract for providing dental services in dentobuses - in 7 provinces no entity has joined the ongoing proceedings in this regard. As of May 30, 2018, only 6 provinces started providing services in dentobuses," the authors of the report wrote.

MP Hanna Gil-Piątek also points out that successive media reports indicate that mobile dental clinics have not contributed to reducing dental caries in Polish children, and that dentists are reluctant to work in them.

In an interpellation to the Health Minister, the deputy asks how many dentobuses are currently fulfilling their original goals, whether there have been dentobus-related accidents, how many children were helped in each year, what locations the vehicles stopped at, what percentage of children without access to dental offices in schools benefited from dentobus care, and how much the total cost of the project was.

The head of the health ministry has so far not addressed the interpellation.