Well, it's very frustrating and that isn't very satisfactory to me. I have been dealing with this one for the last couple of years. All I'm hearing is the same thing I heard before. I don't mind getting involved on some issues. However, if these issues could be resolved, I would probably feel a little better. The issues are still the same. There are some specific medical problems that even come to my attention. I'm not a medical doctor, I cannot diagnose or make any suggestions. I just want to get some attention paid to the type of medical treatment some people have or have not been receiving. There should be a way for people who have these problems in the communities to go to someone in the medical system to address these issues, so these issues could be dealt with in the medical system, itself. That's what I'm getting at.
I asked the Minister if there is anything in place in the interim until a board is created. Regarding the problems we are having with the boards, the Minister is saying that there is a proposal from the Dogrib region to have a social services board and they will be meeting with them to see if this would be feasible. How long are these meetings going to go on? Maybe they'll go on for another year or so. She is saying they are going to meet with the Deh Cho region to see if this is the type of board they would want to see in place. In the meantime, there is no board. That's my concern.
What is in place in the interim to deal with these kinds of medical concerns? In the other regions, I assume there are health boards that deal with different specific issues. They probably have a process in place so when somebody has a problem, someone goes to the board, voices the issues, and tries to resolve it. There may be problems with doctors, with different personnel in the medical treatment system or with transportation. These are the different types of problems I'm getting at. More and more of these problems are coming to my attention. This department has the responsibility to provide health services and all of these problems are included within health services.
If there is nowhere for my constituents to go to address some of these medical issues, then there is a problem. That's what I'm raising a concern about. Is there anything in the interim? I've gone to the Minister and the deputy minister and raised these issues. I cannot keep coming back to the Minister for specific issues on an ongoing basis. Finally, I've gone to the director of Mackenzie regional health services and whenever I hear of a specific problem or concern, I go to this person. I
get a more positive response because they are on the ball and doing things.
Can there be an interim arrangement made somehow? Maybe there could be an interim body of some sort at the community level. In Fort Simpson, maybe there could be a community health committee of some sort comprised of different people. There was a committee looking at health problems, doing a study for the band. There's a group of people in the community who are aware of these different issues. They've been at it for a number of months now and their report is just about done. Can a group like that be recognized as an interim body for the time being to deal with different health issues that come into the community?
Is there something in the works that the department is doing to deal with these types of problems that arise, so the community can be involved in dealing with these health issues? At this point in time, Mackenzie Regional Health Services is dealing with some of these problems but the entire staff is in Yellowknife. They travel to Simpson once in awhile but there are people in the community who would like to be involved and should be involved because they are there on a daily basis and see how things happen in the communities. I would like the Minister to tell me if there's something that could be done in the interim until we come up with some sort of a health board in my region. Thank you.