In its annual public report, the Court of Auditors points to “the expensive practices” of the National Order of Dental Surgeons. The ONCD disputes the charges.
The words are harsh but they are the fruit of a long investigation work by the wise men of the rue Cambon (Paris). “Drifts in management”, “undue indemnities”, control of the profession “insufficient”, in its annual public report published on Wednesday, the Court of Auditors severely tackles the National Order of Dentists (ONCD) and calls on it to lead to “a major reform” of its organization.
The ONCD, to which nearly 44,000 professionals are registered, must “rediscover the meaning of its public service missions” and “initiate without delay a reorganization” of its management, warns the Court of Auditors. In particular, it points to the “expensive practices” of the organization, whose annual contributions amount to around 20 million euros.
The current practice of gifts
These sums collected allow the Order to lead the way. He bought in favor of his advisers and members of their family and sometimes of his employees, jewelry, “high fashion accessories”, “watch set with diamonds”, computers, “great wines worth several thousand dollars. euros ”, thalassotherapy treatments … But the list of these benefits in kind has only just begun …
Some local councils have indeed organized leisure trips, all expenses paid, for the advisers. The departmental council of Loiret thus organized stays in spa towns, with spouses, in Vichy in 2012 for 18 participants and nearly € 9,000, in La Baule in 2014 for 21 participants and a cost of € 14,000. Added to this are stays in Corsica in charming hotels … Facts that the honorary president of the National Council of the Order denies in a press release published on its website on Thursday.
Generous compensation
The wise men of rue Cambon also note that “generous, sometimes even undue allowances” were paid to members of the National Council. “The amount of compensation paid in 2015 to members of the National Council has in total exceeded 600,000 euros, including more than 400,000 euros for the eight members of the office (or 50,000 euros per advisor on average)”, they report. “Many national councilors receive, in addition, allowances linked to their participation in local councils which may, for some, exceed 20,000 euros per year”, they add.
In addition, the eight members of the office benefit free of charge from an official apartment, under “opaque” attribution conditions which “have never been submitted to the approval of the plenary assembly”. “If it can be justified for the advisers domiciled in the provinces (…) it is unfounded for the three members of the office” who live in Paris, the Court of Auditors is surprised. It also notes that “all charges relating to these accommodations are paid by the Order, up to laundry bills for household linen, for a total of more than 100,000 euros per year”.
The recommendations of the wise
In addition, the court considers the compensation practices as “very disparate”. Each local council decides for itself the amount of compensation. The Court of Auditors therefore recommends “capping” the amount of compensation paid to advisers at the same territorial level or removing “clearly abusive compensation” in order to “regain the spirit of volunteerism”. It also recommends “limiting the number of successive mandates within the same ordinal body” and “prohibiting the accumulation of mandates” after pointing out the longevity of national leaders.
Finally, the Court underlined that the controls of the exercise of the profession by the ONCD, as part of its public service missions, are “few in number, inefficient and inoperative”, and deplores that its action is more oriented towards “The defense of categorical interests which are not incumbent upon him”. She cites for example the fight of these professionals against the networks of care and dental centers. In its press release, the Order replied by writing that it was fighting only “against the abuses of some of these centers and this in the interest of patients”. The dialogue of the deaf between the two institutions is likely to continue.
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