Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my colleague Mr. Ramsay’s questions about the potential savings to this government by bulk purchasing pharmaceuticals for people in the Northwest Territories.
I have a great idea for the Minister, one that will save the government a lot of money. Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that the private sector can do almost anything cheaper than the government can. In Hay River we have a long-established business called Medical Surgical Supply. It is owned and operated by two registered nurses with extensive experience in the Arctic and in small communities. At the present time they purchase pharmaceutical and surgical and medical supplies. They then redistribute these to clients, health centres, hospitals and facilities throughout the Northwest Territories. If the government were going to go to this bulk purchasing idea and this process, this might necessarily require some kind of
infrastructure in order to receive and distribute these bulk purchased supplies.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Health, rather than putting a long-established business like the one in Hay River out of business, wouldn’t it be a good idea for the government to consider contracting them on a cost-plus basis to perform this service on behalf of the GNWT? Thank you.