Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on some previous statements and
questions that I’ve had in this House to the former Minister of Health and Social Services pertaining to the provision of medevac services that medevac patients from the Northwest Territories receive when arriving in Edmonton for care.
The Health Quality Council of Alberta has concluded its report and come up with 18 recommendations to mitigate the loss of medevac flights to the City Centre Airport. The report finds that the move would transform hospital transport times in Edmonton from the shortest in the country to the longest in the country. Council CEO John Cowell was quoted at a news conference as saying the point we’re making is there’s a huge potential for an adverse event occurring to a patient who is caught up in a delay.
Mr. Speaker, I do look forward to the Government of Alberta and other stakeholders acting upon these recommendations, but the fact remains that the runway at the City Centre Airport that had instrumentation which allowed for flights to land in bad weather has been closed. Medevac flights are being diverted to the International Airport without any of the recommendations being acted upon. The safety of our residents is being jeopardized every time a medevac gets diverted to the International Airport. To date, 44 medevac flights have been diverted to the International Airport. Although we’ve not had a bad outcome, the reality is, it’s only a matter of time, Mr. Speaker.
The sooner a solution is found and the recommendations are acted upon, the better. In an ideal world, the City Centre Airport would stay operational; however, that does not seem to be the direction that the City of Edmonton is taking. In March the former Minister stated that she had officials that were directly part of the Quality Council review. I’d like to know how we were involved in that review, in the development of that report, and who was protecting the interests of our residents, and in going forward, who is going to be working with the Government of Alberta to ensure our concerns are adequately addressed, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.