Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for this opportunity to provide opening comments.
Overall, the Department of Health's budget has decreased by approximately .5 per cent in comparison to the 1992-93 revised main estimates. The department's budget reflects an effort to control expenditures in the areas of medicare, medical travel and hospital services. This will be accomplished by monitoring of service utilization, establishment and application of standard guidelines and procedures and the development of payment methods which encourage good practice and provide predictability of costs over time.
One significant task to be accomplished during the year will be consolidated management of medical travel benefits to GNWT employees into the Department of Health. It is currently within the mandate of the Department of Personnel.
Other initiatives the department has undertaken previously which will continue are as follows: a comprehensive AIDS prevention package; repatriation of specialized services to Stanton Yellowknife Hospital, with the aim of further enhancing services to the communities outside of Yellowknife; in collaboration with the Department of Education, development of a registered nursing diploma program at Arctic College; assessment of work load factors in the community health centres; continued planning through the development of community profiles to determine health needs, health service resources and use, and the options for improving service arrangements; review of expenditure issues with boards, especially for travel, drugs and overtime, with a view to better cost projection and control; negotiation of per diem and salaried contracts with physicians to provide predictable costs; strengthening the monitoring of medical travel use; establishing a means of reviewing patient care provided in the south so that opportunities for repatriation are identified and acted upon; and, continued development of the advanced nursing skills in-service program to prepare and support the needs of NWT nurses.
Significant issues to be dealt with in 1993-94 are as follows: improvements of the department's management for results system to make it a more useful tool for comparing results with resources, and full integration of MFRS into the budget into the budget and financial reporting system; development of a plan of action to increase aboriginal representation in the department at management levels; the collaborative development of a memorandum of understanding between hospital and health boards and the Department of Health; resolution of the DIAND dispute over hospital services to Indian and Inuit residents; development and discussion of principles upon which the NWT health system will be developed over the next decade; the planned consolidation of the Department of Health and Social Services, beginning with the joint review of and planning for alcohol and drug programs and for services to aged and handicapped; and, decentralization of the health insurance services division to Inuvik and Rankin Inlet.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening comments. Thank you.