Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today Mr. Speaker, I’m standing in front of you and the other Members to speak about medical travel and the issues that seem to be of continuous concern in my riding.
I’d like to share with you a few stories that I have heard and witnessed firsthand over the 15 years. This past March, one of my constituents told me about two experiences that happened this past year. One was when a doctor recommended an exam that needed to be done in Yellowknife. While the constituent felt this was great, let’s try to arrange it during conferencing all night that the constituent was attending. To me, this made a lot of sense. It would be more efficient, a cost-effective way to arrange for follow-up appointments if the doctors wanted while the constituents are already in Yellowknife. It would save the cost of travel for an extra trip, the hotel, the per diem and extra days involved in not being away from work. This didn’t happen. I was disappointed to hear this, but what’s worse is that this happens a lot. I’ve heard similar stories, but the best ones are when potential patients are on scheduled business in Yellowknife or Hay River or Edmonton and appointments come up a day after they’re already on their travels and the books, and they’re already on their way to the community. Instead of medical travel willing to pay for the hotel and meals for the day, patient needs to go back to their home community and then come back or they pay for it themselves. Now, it is very sad to see this but this is what is even more disappointing is that person sometimes needs to get off the plane and then get right back on the same plane to go to the appointment. Now, this defies logic in my mind. However, it seems the department has to spend all this extra money because of department policies.
The other story I hear about is booking appointments at the nearest center for necessity and appropriate insurant health services outside the NWT. While I agree with the concept, but when costs involve large amounts of funds, does it not make sense to see if savings can be made and help the patient at the same time? I struggle with what the policy is about. It doesn’t seem to be about saving money and caring of patient. I know this is not true, but this is what it seems that way.
There are other stories that I could share with you, but I only have two-and-a-half minutes for my Member’s statement and I’m trying to call in with the time. So Mr. Speaker, I’ll have questions for the Minister of Health later on today about medical travel. Mahsi Cho, Mr. Speaker.