Thank you, Mr. Ng. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

Thank you, Mr. Evaloarjuk. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Ng. Are there any further general comments? Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have stated a number of times already on the concern of targets set, and I believe there's going to be a need to be aggressive in trying

o accomplish these. I am concerned when it comes to a number of different issues, one being health boards with the amount of reductions they've been taking. With regard to the Budget Address, we've seen that things are fairly inequitably done. I will have some questions later on the detailed area of this as to the amount of reductions to different boards.

I also have concerns with the hospitals in Inuvik and Iqaluit about how the issues are going to be played out in the next little bit. I think we've started off in a direction that's very aggressive by the department, which is good to see, but I do have concerns with the effect in the community, possibly, of front-line positions and workers and services available to communities. As the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we tried hard to work with this issue.

I just wanted to make a few comments in the area of fairness and equity amongst the communities and regions, and I'll be directing questions as we go on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my general comments are centred around concerns expressed by some of my elders with regard to the type of treatment they receive when they are in the health centres in the communities and when the doctors visit; possibly once a month.

Mr. Chairman, elders expressed concern that they don't feel that the quality of doctors is quite what it should be. They feel that the doctors are way too young to be very experienced in the field. They also feel that they are nothing more than a piece of meat that is being examined. They think that there is no personal relationship between the doctor and the patient. A lot of it is because they feel the doctors change so often that they never really get to know the patient. It has been stated by elders that when the doctors do come to examine them, they don't even look at the patient; they actually only look at the report from the previous doctors. The patients get the impression that if the last doctor recommended a certain type of pill and it didn't

work, then this guy is going to try a different one again. That way, they're really nothing more than guinea pigs.

They don't know how to have their concerns brought forward to the proper people, without actually insulting the doctors or the system. They don't wish to insult the doctors and they don't wish to insult the system, but they feel that there should be some way that this could be resolved.

In one particular case where this concern was brought to the attention of the authorities, these members were kind of put down by the health centre for having gone over their heads. I don't think this is the proper way to address the problem, and I hope the Minister will take this into consideration.

I also have concerns with regard to the ability of this government to supply proper doctors. I understand that it has been suggested in the past that doctors should be stationed in the larger communities. It has been suggested that nurses do not want to take the responsibility themselves when ruling on a case; therefore, they simply send them on to the head hospitals in Inuvik or Yellowknife. Part of this is driving up the costs of transportation. I feel that, if possible, this government should have been looking at stationing doctors or interns in the communities, as well as nurses. This would probably be offset by the cost of the number of patients having to be sent south, basically for just an examination.

I had one elder approach me not too long ago where he wasn't really clear why he was sent to Yellowknife. He thought it was for a haircut because that's all he got out of it, and he would thank the government for the haircut. That's the type of thing that could be resolved, simply by putting doctors in the communities and thereby establishing a close relationship with the patients so they know them and the patients are then more responsive to the doctor. Obviously, this would be beneficial all around. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I understand that recruiting of physicians is not a new problem. Could the Minister explain what the problem is in recruiting physicians?

Mr. Chairman, just for clarification, my appreciation is expressed to the nurses who do fill the positions in the communities and I appreciate the work that they do but, at the same time, in the larger communities, some consideration should be put forward to compare the price of travel versus having a doctor stationed in the communities. I understand from talking to some people that there are a fair number of doctors overseas who are willing to come to Canada to practice but, for some reason or other, the medical profession has basically stopped their ability to practice in Canada. I'm not too clear on that. Maybe the Minister could comment on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is similar to Mr. Steen's. There seems to be a lot of concerns, especially with cancer patients, that they seem to be evaluated when it's too late. They find out that they have cancer and, by that time, it's pretty well a foregone conclusion that they'll pass on. No offence to the doctors or the nurses, but I wonder if there's a method that we could use. You mentioned in your statement about the new technology of being able to use satellites and communicate with other doctors in other areas; Yellowknife or wherever. It seems like a lot of these patients go to the hospital time and time again, complaining that they feel sick, they give them medicine, send them home and they come back a week or a month later and the same complaints are there. By the time they determine that there may be something wrong, the individual is sent to Yellowknife or wherever. At that time is when they're evaluated as having cancer. It seems to be a real concern in a lot of the smaller communities; finding a new method to catch this thing prior to having a long time frame passing. I don't know what the methods are for determining cancer, but X-rays used to be how they used to do it in the past. It could be mandatory that once these people go there, instead of just giving them pills, you take an X-ray and you send it out and hope it will catch the disease instead of it carrying on for a couple of months before it is evaluated. Maybe the Minister or one of your colleagues could help me out here, to try to find a new way of dealing with people's complaints and also dealing with the whole question of cancer.