The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) will expand the scope of subsidy under the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme from July 1 (Thursday) to allow the inclusion of more subsidised dental treatment items so that eligible elderly persons in need of treatment can receive more targeted dental services in relation to fitting of removable dentures. The newly included treatment items will cover the removal of bridges or crowns and the provision of root canal treatment, and free removable dentures and related dental services for elderly persons aged 75 or above who received dental services under the Programme at least five years ago for a second time. The estimated expenditure required for the expansion and the continued implementation of the programme will be absorbed under the approved additional provision of about $870 million.
Under the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme, some 190 district service units located across the city, including elderly centres, community centres and dental clinics which process applications directly, will handle applications and arrange the first dental appointment for eligible elderly persons.
After completion of the necessary dental treatments, the project office set up under the implementing agent of the programme, the Hong Kong Dental Association (HKDA), will disburse the subsidy direct to the dentists. The dentists should not charge the participating elderly persons any fee.
With effect from July 1, eligible elderly persons can bring along the necessary documents to apply in person at the district service units.
The relevant leaflet and a list of district service units handling applications will be distributed at the elderly centres in various districts from next Thursday. The eligibility and application procedures of the programme and the list of district service units will also be available on the websites of the CCF (www.communitycarefund.hk) and the HKDA (www.hkda.org). For enquiries, please call the hotline of the programme at 2525 8198.
The Elderly Dental Assistance Programme was introduced in September 2012 to provide free removable dentures and related dental services to low-income elderly persons who are users of home care services subvented by the Social Welfare Department. The programme was expanded in phases in September 2015, October 2016, July 2017 and February 2019 to cover elderly persons who are Old Age Living Allowance recipients aged 80 or above (the first phase), aged 75 or above (the second phase), aged 70 or above (the third phase) and aged 65 or above (the fourth phase) respectively.
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