Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk today about some concerns I had with the digital communication network and specifically how it relates to Telehealth. I think we have discussed a few times in this House that there are inefficiencies and problems with available bandwidth. I think Mr. St. Germaine mentioned the other day that Telehealth requires about 380 kilobytes of bandwidth in order to become operational in the Territories. This is clearly a problem that we have to address. There are also concerns with lags in relay times,
I think the thing that has been lost here and the thing that we have to get back to realizing is that four years ago, when this government looked at this initiative, they had concerns they felt needed to be addressed and could be addressed with the DCN. I think it was assumed this program could save the government and the Northwest Territories a lot of money and would also improve the level of service, specifically in the communities.
There are a few areas where I think this is very possible. We know we have recruitment and retention problems with physicians and nurses. I think if Telehealth became a reality, we would need fewer physicians overall. This would certainly help us. We would also reap the benefits of reduced medical travel. Currently, nurses are fairly quick to refer patients back to the regional centres in Yellowknife, for very good reasons. They may not have the expertise to deal with the problems or may not feel comfortable with dealing with the problems in the smaller communities where they do not have the facilities.
Reduced travel is another issue. Certainly there would be reduced travel for Yellowknife physicians who would not have to do as much of a tour of duty of the communities as they currently do. This would both save the government money and help to alleviate the shortage of physicians we currently face in Yellowknife.
Access to specialists in communities is another issue. It is one thing to send a general practitioner around, but certain specific ailments and concerns need to be dealt with by specialists.
The last item I would like to talk about is something that has been lost here: the education aspect. We know that on-line, direct internet service from the south would certainly help nurses and physicians in the smaller communities. It would help keep them current, up to date, and certainly improve the level of service in the communities and in the North. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time today, I will be questioning the Minister responsible for Health about the DCN and specifically Telehealth. Thank you.