During the past five years checks on dentists practising in Belgium have found that a number of foreign dental practitioners working here obtained their dentistry qualifaction fraudulently. The dailies ‘De Standaard’ quotes the Flemish Dental Association as saying that some private dentistry schools in Romania offer dentistry qualification diplomas for sale.
Almost half of the new dentists starting up in Belgium have a foreign dentistry qualification. Most of these have diplomas issued in Romania. This not only leads to issues with regard to language skills. The Flemish Dental Association says that in many cases dentists with a Romanian diploma have little knowledge of dentistry.
The Association’s Chairman Frank Herrebout said that "When they appear before the committee that grants dentists official recognition to practice, they are unable to answer the simplest of questions.”
However, the committee is unable to turn down their application to practice as Romania is a member of the EU and all academic certificates issued there are automatically recognised as been equivalent to a Belgian qualification.
Mr Herrebout adds that "We know of private schools in Romania where you can get your diploma for a fee."
Federal MP Frieda Gijbels (Flemish nationalist), herself a dentist and periodontist, has long been critical of the current situation as she says that it leavs the door open to fraud.
Figures from the National Sickness and Invalidity Insurance Service (RIZIV) show that there have been at least 27 cases of “intentional fraud” with regard to dental qualifications during the past 5 years.
The Flemish Health Minister Hilde Crevits (Christian democrat) intends to discuss the issue with the Committee.