Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. On
Wednesday the Member for Tu Nedhe asked the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services some questions concerning dental surgery services. I was disappointed to hear that dental surgery services have been discontinued and will not be offered at any health service facilities in the NWT. This decision is causing prolonged pain and suffering for young kids throughout the NWT.
According to the unedited Hansard from Wednesday, June 11, Minister Lee indicated,
“We feel that there is room for us to negotiate, because the dentists are getting most of the coverage for providing that service or are compensated for that. We also feel that the federal government should step in to covering the dental surgery costs, because it is a question of long-term oral health of our residents. I am investigating this, and I’m looking at the possibility of making this service available in either Hay River, where there is room for that, but probably not in Stanton, because they are fully occupied.”
Although I am very pleased to hear that the Minister is investigating the possibility of making services available, I do have a couple of concerns with her statement.
First, oral surgeons are paid for procedures based on a set fee structure. As a result, they are paid exactly the same for the same procedure whether it is performed in a clinic or in an operating room within a health facility. Unfortunately, it is not possible to perform large procedures on small children in clinics, as the children often need to be under general anaesthetic. Expecting the oral surgeons to take a pay cut from this fee structure because they’re performing a procedure on a child in a health facility is unreasonable. The pain and suffering of children should never be used as a bargaining chip.
Second, I don’t understand why Stanton Territorial Hospital won’t be considered. Dental procedures have been performed there in the past. I had all four of my own wisdom teeth removed at Stanton when I was a kid. Stanton keeps an OR room open most days. They have also traditionally closed the OR room for the majority of the summer break. In the best interests of children I believe that room can be found within this schedule at Stanton, as well as at the Hay River Hospital.
Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the Minister that the federal government should step in and pay the costs that they are responsible for. I continue to encourage the Minister to continue her efforts in this area. There are approximately 430 — 130 in the South Slave, 300 in the rest of the Territories — young children waiting for oral surgery. They are prioritized based on pain. Because of this government’s concern about whether or not dentists take a pay cut to perform surgery in the GNWT facilities, this number is increasing daily and northern children continue to be in pain.
Mr.
Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to
conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.