Thank you, Madam Chair. We anticipate working towards having the master development plan finalized for Stanton, as well as for Fort Smith, as well as for, we'll see with Hay River how the assessment turns out, whether it's renovation versus new. It's also presumed, then, that the Stanton master development plan will also be able to be related and tied to the consolidated clinic initiative. The two have to fit.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The budget document outlines a number of specific expenditures for territorial and Stanton investment. Quite a bit of equipment, for instance, over the next three years. There's, I guess by a very rough count here, somewhere in the neighbourhood of between 30 and 35 million dollars booked for Stanton over the next three years, Madam Chair. Is this amount of money booked to take into consideration the kinds of changes and renovations that are anticipated, or should we anticipate that perhaps these numbers will change up or down, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this point I've never seen in my 10 years, going on 11 years now, I've never seen numbers go down. These are estimates that are planning estimates

that we're working on, and as we flesh out the detail more and more, and we consider the environment that we're operating in, which is a very heated economy with costs of everything being high and going higher, I would anticipate that some of these figures may move. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Next on the list I've got Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a couple quick questions on the Stanton hospital spending on, in particular, the dialysis machine, the $60,000 for 2006-07, and dialysis equipment for Hay River of $180,000, 2006-07. Maybe the Minister can tell me, what is the cost of a dialysis machine these days?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. With all the water purification equipment, the whole complete unit is in the neighbourhood of $60,000 per complete unit. Then you need, for example in Hay River, you can't just have one. You have to have at least two, depending on the number of patients you have, or as many as three. You always have to have one as backup in case something goes wrong. So that's the requirement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay. My next question, I guess. We're talking $60,000 range, so you need two, $120,000. How many dialysis machines do we have now in the NWT?

Mahsi, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just counting roughly off what I know, we have in Fort Smith and Yellowknife it's probably around nine or 10. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, just, if we've got nine or 10 dialysis machines we have more on the books here, which is good. My next question is, why are they all here or in Fort Smith? Why don't we have dialysis machines out in the small, remote centres, like in the valley communities, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells, even Hay River? Because I know when I visit the hospital I see people there that are from these communities, or close to them, that are just here because they have to be on dialysis machines. But I don't see any point in people even coming here and being on dialysis machines if they're withering away, they're homesick, they're slowly dying, they're mind is slowly just fading away, and yet we're keeping him alive by saying, well, they've got to stay here because we have dialysis machines. I think we should put more out in the smaller communities, train people to use them. Whether it's putting them on the books, I don't think $60,000 is an exorbitant amount of money, especially if we've got territorial Stanton hospital in the likes of $27.7 million in the next four years. You can buy a lot of dialysis machines with that and do a lot of training. Is there consideration for, you know...I don't see any of these smaller communities on this capital assets list that have dialysis machines listed. Why is that? Is it all going to be here all the time? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mahsi, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our expansion of our Dialysis Program has been based on the need that is coming more and more evident everyday. The reason it started in Fort Smith is that we had some patients from Fort Smith that were coming up here; the very scenario that the Member laid out. We now know that there are patients in Hay River. We've been planning for that and there's money in the budget to set up dialysis there, as well. Next on our list, once that is complete, because we know there's a real demand, is into Fort Simpson, the other regional centre. We know that it's only a matter of time until we're going to be in other larger centres, probably Norman Wells and Inuvik, when the need presents itself. It's a program that requires some complexity of care. It's taken a lot of work just to get Capital Health and Stanton to work with Fort Smith to figure out the protocols, and procedures, and all the complexities of having the program delivered and train the staff to do that. Now that we've done that, it's going to be easier to set it up in Hay River, and then we'll be moving on to Simpson. These are going to be in the larger centres. There is another type of dialysis, home dialysis, that can also be used in much more remote communities, but that, as well, depends on the patient and depends on the type of medical requirement, but that is possible. Our focus has been on the dialysis that we can deliver out of the existing health centres outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Anything further, Mr. Villeneuve?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess, just about the whole Dialysis Program. I know in the next five years there will probably be a larger demand for dialysis equipment and home dialysis units. So in this Dialysis Program, are we planning to wait until that need really kicks us in the side, or are we going to start training and start getting those things there so that they are there and they're ready to go when the need arises, instead of waiting for the need to present itself and then reacting to it? Is there a more proactive approach that maybe the health department can consider with respect to just the individual home dialysis units, and the training, and the protocol and everything, so all that can be put aside and when the need arises we can react within the year instead of waiting for maybe four or five years to react to the need? Is there any thought put into that process? Thanks.

Mahsi, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We believe that we are being proactive. We made the first step outside of Yellowknife to Fort Smith. We have a need now in Hay River. We're going to be doing that. Next year it's going to be into Fort Simpson. So we do have a plan. We do now have protocols and procedures. We have to train the staff. We need to do some renovations to make sure that the water supplies are adequate. They have to meet a very clear standard. We recognize that the Yellowknife facility itself is also

running flat out and is full almost to capacity. The Member is correct that we are just beginning to see the beginning of the need for this program, and we're planning, clearly, to move up the valley, which is the way it seems to be going. We're slowly moving north to anticipate the need and to get ready. All the redesigns, for example in Hay River, are going to accommodate whatever changes have to take place, as well in Fort Simpson. So, Mr. Chairman, if I could, I'd ask the deputy to speak a bit on the issue of the renal sufficiency program and give a bit more detail speaks to this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Villeneuve.