Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue I’m raising here is not that I’m not in favour of the road. The fact is, is it seems like we’re in the dark. So I guess my next question is the issue of what threshold of work agreement, compliance or negotiation is needed in order to bring Members into the fold of the discussion. It seems as if there’s some type of discussion and work going on behind the scenes, but Members, in the context of transparency, are in a position where we don’t know anything, but yet industry is coming to tell us work is being done. Thank you.

Thank you. The Member would know the Government of the Northwest Territories is not in a financial position to spend $150 million on a road to Fortune Minerals. That’s not something that we have the financial wherewithal to accomplish. I’m not sure who the Member is speaking to at Fortune, but I will talk to the folks at Fortune Minerals, and the next time they are in Yellowknife, I will set up a meeting through the Member and have Fortune Minerals sit down with the Member and his committee, and I’d certainly make myself available to attend the same meeting so that we’re all on the same page. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to follow up on my

statement. I mentioned a number of statistics in my statement and I want to provide a few more.

Diabetes prevalence rates among Aboriginal populations are at least three times higher than the general population. Aboriginal populations face higher risks for prediabetes and obesity, and Aboriginal women are particularly vulnerable to diabetes. They have four times the rate of non-Aboriginal women. They also have a higher risk for gestational diabetes.

I spoke to the cost of diabetes to our system, to our health system, to our government, and in the NWT those costs are fully borne by the government. Diabetes treatment is fully covered as an insured service. So I would like to say to the Minister that we are managing this problem and this is an opportunity to solve the problem. I’d ask the Minister to explain to me and to the House the rationale for the exclusion of bariatric surgery in the list of ensured services for the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services recognizes, and also in discussion with many people recognize that bariatric surgery and other issues or other medical services that could address obesity are something that we are looking at adding to our insured services. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I’m glad to hear that this is something that may be on the horizon. The Minister mentioned he’s in discussion and that the department, I gather, is looking into this. I’d like to know from the Minister what kind of discussions are these, are these taking us forward to action and when might that action be. Thank you.

Thank you. As Minister I have the authority to add, delete or amend insured services. In May 2012 we had put a committee together with the NWT Medical Association, and now we’re in the process of developing the terms of reference for that so that we can look at making those changes to the medical services through looking at the regulations of the act. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t mean a committee that was established almost a year ago. I hope he meant terms of reference for including bariatric surgery under our insured services.

Since we don’t currently provide insurance coverage for bariatric surgery, I’d like to know from the Minister if an individual in the NWT chooses to improve themselves, chooses to go and get the surgery done on their own and pay for it on their own, why do we not then assist them with any follow-up procedures, follow-up consultations that are required because there is very often, following

the surgery, several visitations to doctors that are necessary and we refuse to do that. So why do we do that? Thank you.

That committee will be looking at bariatric surgery. Why currently the physicians are refusing to assist individuals that have bariatric surgery, I don’t know, but it’s on the agenda for that committee to look at, at specifically the whole area of bariatric surgery, the whole area of obesity and how it impacts and how it has a direct correlation on chronic disease such as diabetes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I don’t know if the Minister understood my question. I’m not asking him at this point to cover the cost of the surgery, but following surgery there are very often follow-up consultations and follow-up procedures that are required and the Minister says physicians are refusing that. If the Minister gives direction for the system to cover the costs of follow-up, if people are trying to improve themselves, I don’t understand why we would not assist them in doing that. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, I did misunderstand the question. I thought she was telling me that the physicians were refusing and I said I didn’t know why that was happening. But again, we are looking at that. We think that is one of the emerging issues in the whole issue of chronic disease management, and we recognize that this is an issue and we’re hoping that once the committee is able to discuss this, that changes can be made in the system and it can become part of the insured services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the information here that specifically provides the role of the whole medical travel area, the medevac area. What I know about that so far is that the medical travel, essentially, is taking people from the communities into a medical point where they need to go to get a service and that could be done through a medevac or it could be done through regular medical travel. But I don’t have any information indicating that we have to go away from the outside of the range of where there might be some ground ambulance service and how we go and get those people. I don’t have that information with me. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s response. Can the Minister indicate what protocol or what algorithm of care is used by medical travel to make decisions of highway air ambulance patient extraction, and is this protocol communicated with all levels of NWT first responders such as RCMP and fire departments across the Northwest Territories?

Again, if there’s an accident and someone is in an accident that is on a highway that is out of one of the communities and it’s not something covered by medical travel or medevac services, as for the information I have, I’m not familiar with what the protocol is for getting people on the highways for such an accident as this. The first responders recognize that we’re trying to put regulations in to add emergency medical services in the medical professional umbrella legislation so that we can have that, so that we can have ambulance services where people would be qualified and insurable to be able to do that kind of work on the highway.

Can the Minister of Health and Social Services also indicate what criteria are used by medical travel when making a decision to abort a mission for highway air ambulance patient extraction?

All calls on medical travel, whether it be medevacs or medical travel, are made by a physician. If a physician has made a decision that they are going to be able to get to the patient quicker through another avenue, that may be a reason for aborting a medical travel or medevac. If

we’re talking about something that’s outside of a community, not moving from one point within a community to a point where an individual can get medical travel, then I’m not familiar with why or what the protocol is to abort such a trip.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the limited information and criteria provided today by the Minister of Health and Social Services, it is clear that the public and Members need a better understanding on the role of medical travel in highway and air ambulance situations. Will the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to a proper inquiry of the role of medical travel in situations of highway air ambulance call events, and will the Minister report and table these findings to this House?

I’m not sure I would commit to doing an inquiry, but I think we could check out, to keep it simple, to determine whether or not it’s our responsibility to go on to the highways through the Medical Travel Policy, medical travel to be able to go on the highway and get people through that service or if we’re using the system where we are trying to enhance certain ground ambulance services and key strategic communities throughout the North. I’m not sure if I could call for a public inquiry, but I could get that information and find out how this process works and get back to the Members.