Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you. What there has been is, I don't have the exact usage numbers, I know there has been a renegotiation and how the service is paid for has changed, as well. It's more in line with how we get billed from Capital Health. It's billed on a fee for the specific service. There's a funding level based on the complexity of the service.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a separate question for the remaining moments there. I believe this is the section under which the department pays for the physician services and I think we're aware of some of the pressures there have been on staffing and recruiting and retaining doctors in the city and the Territories. Could the Minister provide sort of a status report in brief about where we are in terms of complements of medical professionals? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. I didn't catch the last part. She'd like an update on the current negotiations?

No. Ms. Lee.

No. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not necessarily. I just wanted to have a status report on the complements of medical report. Have we succeeded in recruiting and retaining medical professionals? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe we're running about a 26 percent overall vacancies, down from 32 in June. Rather than try to give you what I have here, I have a document here that I'd be happy to share. It has all the stats. It was provided to standing committee, but it outlines all the percentages of vacancies and such and it's dated from, I think, December.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Perhaps you could supply that to Members. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. If I could just ask the Minister, is this with reference to medevacs in the communities? Does it fall under this category at all?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Medevacs are covered under supplementary health programs.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Menicoche.

That's fine, Mr. Chairman. I'll just reserve my comments until that page.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the nurse-in-charge has fairly significant authority that she would probably be in contact with Inuvik to double check with the physician on call, but the physician on call would be taking her assessment of the situation. I would suggest that the nurse-in-charge has significant authority when it comes to authorizing or requesting a medevac.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A case in point is going back in a time, it's sort of a person thing that I had with what happened back home when I was campaigning.

Something happened to one of my sons there and the nurses couldn't diagnose what the problem was. It took up to about three days before they finally decided to have a conference between themselves to decide exactly what the problem was. I was lucky that they realized it was an emergency, because the individual ended up with appendicitis. By the time he got to Inuvik, it burst. In that case I'm just wondering, I think the nurse-in-charge at that time should have made a decision in regard to the problem. I'm just wondering, are the nurses-in-charge or nurses capable of diagnosing these kinds of situations. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it would depend on the qualifications and experience of the nurse-in-charge. There may be recognition of some of the symptoms. There would also be, I would suggest, contact with Inuvik so as to double check or get that professional feedback from the doctor if it's something that could be of that nature.