Mr.
Speaker, I thank the
Member for the question.
Mr. Speaker, we are experiencing a very unusual situation, even within the environment of pressures we normally feel, in terms of shortages of health care professionals.
We are short of four doctors in Nunakput, and it’s because two of them…. Well, we normally have about eight, and we’re funded for nine. But we’re operating with about five, because two doctors have left to practise elsewhere and two are currently on leave.
So the Beaufort-Delta authority has made a choice of something that they’ve never done before, which is to not be able to have doctors visit the communities. We’re looking for locums to fill these positions as soon as possible. We’re hoping to have the full complement by the end of March.