Staff and wire reports

Officials from the University of Illinois at Chicago say a dental clinic that serves patients with HIV and AIDS will close this year.

UIC Dean Bruce Graham says state funding for the Special Patient Care Clinic has declined over the past five years. He says the school has had to make several cuts, including staff and teaching positions.

The clinic is located on the city’s South Side and has been operated by U of C’s College of Dentistry since 1989. It is federally funded and administered through the Chicago Department of Public Health. The clinic treated nearly 1,700 patients over the past year.

Graham said the college would continue to provide services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS whose medical conditions are uncomplicated in its clinics that are used for educating residents who are learning a specialty.

“Patients with emergency needs will also continue to be cared for in our clinics,” Graham said. “All of the patients currently being treated at UIC’s Special Patient Care Clinic will be notified in writing of other treatment options and referred to the eight other Ryan White-funded clinics in Chicago and the collar counties that currently serve such patients.”

Two UIC faculty members treated patients at the Special Patient Care Clinic. One will be reassigned to teaching dental students. The other was one of 13 faculty and staff whose positions were eliminated earlier this month due to the operating budget shortfall at the college. The cuts are expected to save the college at least $400,000 annually, Graham said.

The clinic is scheduled to close in March.