Today, Sunday Times devoted its attention to the problem of avoiding Irish health care and dental service by Eastern Europeans. I am quoted in that article.
There is couple of reasons why Poles and other Eastern Europeans avoid it and prefer to cure themselves while visiting the homeland:
1. Price: Total cost of a dental treatment in Poland varies from 20 (simple treatment) to 50 Euro (cleaning channels etc.). It is not expensive, especially when we are in Poland visiting our families. Then we are going to dentist. So usually we don’t go to Poland only for dental treatment. Even if we have to go only for dental treatment: plane tickets cost now even less than 20 Euro one way. (I paid 17,50 one way)
2. Lingo: Most of the Eastern Europeans don’t speak proper English enough to explain what is going wrong or what pains.
3. Confidence: We trust our doctors and dentists in Poland. They are usually like a family ones. We usually have used their services for years and we don’t want to change it. I have just found out that some Poles don’t trust Irish health system and dental service. There are a couple of examples, when my friends had to wait 3 or 4 hours to visit a doctor of the first contact - as we call it.
4. Attitude to the living in Ireland: most of emigrants mentally still live in Poland. I mean they are working here, earning money, but they eat Polish food (which is available here), watch Polish TV (Satelite receivers - kind of SKY - brought from Poland), reading Polish press (issued in Ireland and brought from Poland), and living virtual live in Poland (via Internet). The only thing we can’t bring is a health care and dental service. But we can go and use it while we are in Poland (see point 1).
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