Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Health and Social Services, general comments. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, just because it has been a really big issue in Yellowknife, I would like to find out from the Minister what the current state of plans are for dealing with the doctor shortage in Yellowknife.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in response to the position shortage in Yellowknife, there have been negotiations ongoing with the clinic owners and the physicians to alternate payment schedules for positions which would give them, hopefully, a more attractive working environment. Also, it would provide the department and boards with a recruitment tool. It would be a comprehensive package which would be clearly spelled out. We feel it would be competitive enough to recruit physicians to the North, thus alleviating the pressure on the existing physicians who are now operating at less than a full complement here in Yellowknife.

Hopefully, that would then stabilize the number of physicians who are here. Under the current circumstances and sort of a side effect of all this, is not only are they working long and hard hours, but it is easy under these circumstances to become discouraged. We run the risk of further eroding the doctors that we do have committed here in Yellowknife at this time. That is one of the measures that we are taking.

The other was an agreement with the Alberta Medical Association to provide support by way of physicians who come in and do locums and that would again help, hopefully, to shore-up the shortages and take some of the pressure off local physicians so that we would not lose more of them. Those are a couple of initiatives that we have undertaken to try and address the situation of position shortages. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am wondering if the Minister would advise me what the timetable is to achieve the longer-term solution, and how successful the locum provision of services has been? In other words, do we have a number of physicians in Yellowknife on locums? Are we seeing some relief at the emergency, for instance, so that it is being covered better than was the case not too long ago? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As to the timetable for when we might conclude these negotiations with the positions, we are hoping to have a submission to the Financial Management Board Secretariat, at least on an initial phase of this, very shortly. There are some details to work out on the actual salary schedules and alternative payment plans that we are offering.

All I can really tell the Member, Mr. Chairman, is that we are very close to having satisfactory arrangements setup with the physicians. As for how many locums and how successful the locum support has been, I would not have any details on that.

Mr. Chairman, we have 14 positions in Yellowknife, and at any given time, we have six positions who are here on a locum arrangement for a period of time.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The people who are here on locums, are they typically GPs or do they come in with specialities? Do they, for instance, fill in the emergency ward almost exclusively, or are they offering other services through the clinics as well?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The locums that are coming in are generally GPs and some are GPs with a speciality in anaesthetics.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Are they providing services through the clinics as well, so that people see the service outside of emergency?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, they are also providing services in the clinics.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason for my question is, I know I have seen some articles in the press saying that Yellowknife is ten or 11 physicians short of what it should be, according to a study that was done three years ago.

You are saying, in effect, we almost always have 20 physicians in town. So we are running closer to four or five physicians short, which will probably provide some level of comfort to people who were concerned that we might be much more short of physicians. That is still not the best situation. It does not deal with long-term care giving and having somebody understand, over a period of years, a person's health.

I know that the Minister said that either we are still subject to getting funds by supplementary appropriation, I assume, to deal with the situation in the long run. What if the request to Financial Management Board Secretariat is successful? Would we come forward for supplementary funds? What is the Minister's expectation of when we might see the final solution? Will it take us a year, six months, two years? What are we talking about here before we finally see the complement of physicians in Yellowknife that we need?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just referring to the first part of Mr. Dent's question, the research that we have access to indicates that we should have between 22 and 25 physicians for the population of Yellowknife. At any given time, if we have 20, we are still a number short, but yes, we would hope that would provide some consolation to Yellowknife residents that the gap is being filled.

Certainly the Member is correct that continuity of care is very important and this is only a temporary measure. It is our goal to have resident physicians here. Hopefully, some of the people that come here on locums might enjoy the practice, the scope of practice, and the working conditions here and might consider making a move and becoming residents here. That would be one interesting way of recruiting people. Certainly, that is not their commitment when they come here.

The second part of his question was, how long it will take to implement this initiative and see a full complement of physicians here. It is difficult to project. We think that what we will have in hand is a very competitive offer at the end of the negotiations, and something to go out and use as a recruitment tool. However, there is a national and international shortage of physicians. The recruitment efforts of other jurisdictions are also very strident. We are hoping that between 12 to 18 months, we would have a full complement of physicians here.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would encourage the department to stay on top of the number of physicians providing the services through locum here in town to make sure that we do maintain a reasonable level of service. I was wondering if I could get some details. The Minister, in response to a question in question period last week, announced a new program, a bursary program for doctors as a means of trying to attract more people to move to the North and practice. I was just wondering if we can get some details on this? For instance, is it the same sort of program as the Department of Justice has where they provide a bursary for aboriginal students who are taking law? There was not an awful lot said about the plans for the program. I know the Standing Committee on Social Programs had not heard anything in advance of the bursary program. I was just wondering if we could get some details on what is being planned there?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for a few more details for the Member on that, it would be in the form of a bursary program and it would be directed to students that are studying in their last three to four years in preparation for practice. It would be $15,000 per year and three students would be eligible at any given time, on the understanding that they would then return to the Northwest Territories and provide exchange in service for that. It is an investment that would hopefully yield some long-term results.