Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 25, 2013, I asked questions to the then Minister of Health and Social Services regarding BiliBlankets for babies and the lack and shortage of BiliBlankets that we have throughout the Northwest Territories. The questions came because we had a medevac in Inuvik at the time, and the family was concerned that if another baby had come while they were using the BiliBlanket, what would have happened to the other baby.
BiliBlankets are used when a baby is born and has yellow jaundice. For those of you who don’t know what jaundice is, jaundice occurs when there’s a buildup of naturally occurring substance in the blood, called bilirubin. Bilirubin is produced by the breakdown of red blood cells, and red blood cells are very important because they carry oxygen to all tissues within the body. As bilirubin begins to build up, it causes the baby’s skin and the whites of the baby’s eyes to turn yellow.
Just recently we had another medevac in Inuvik with a baby that had jaundice and there was another serious concern. When we did our initial research, there was one blanket in the Inuvik regional health authority. It also brings concerns about what are we doing for the small communities and regional centres. If we don’t have this type of equipment available, what happens when we have weather situations where we can’t get a medevac out to get medevaced either to Yellowknife or down to Edmonton? I can only understand the stress that this causes the parents of the baby that might have
jaundice, or the stress that it has on the family and community, especially in a really small community.
I want to get an update to questions that were asked on February 25, 2013. What kind of updates are we getting on this and if any action has been done to get the proper equipment that we need in our health centres and our hospitals to help these families out that do have these kinds of issues and are facing these kinds of challenges?
I will have questions later on for the Minister of Health and Social Services to get an update. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.