Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to do my Member's Statement on an important part of health transformation; the recruitment of doctors.
Mr. Speaker, at one time I envisioned a health system having a full slate of doctors in all regions and a full complement of specialists in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services continues to improve its infrastructure across the NWT, including the Stanton Territorial Hospital renewal, new health centres in Hay River, Fort Resolution, Fort Providence, to mention a few. These projects are huge investments. It would be even better if we could have these facilities staffed with our own doctors.
Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that the health system is still utilizing doctors from other jurisdictions. I further understand that it is difficult for the system to hire doctors that are prepared to live in our regional centres. I feel like we would have much better success if we were hiring fulltime doctors that could divide their time between Yellowknife and the regional centres.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know how many full-time doctors we have in the regions, but I'll use Hay River as an example, since many of my constituents access health services there. If Hay River requires five doctors and they're only able to fill three positions, instead of bringing several doctors from outside the NWT, the doctors for Hay River could be filled in Yellowknife. Therefore, the system could potentially hire four doctors who live in Yellowknife and each of them be half-time doctors in the Hay River Health Centre.
Mr. Speaker, the same concept could apply to Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, and Norman Wells. I believe that the Tli Cho doctors already live in Yellowknife. If they choose, the doctors could live in any one of the communities and work half-time in Yellowknife, that would also work.
Mr. Speaker, offering a doctor that chooses to be in Fort Smith an opportunity to work in their field of expertise in a hospital setting at Stanton from time to time would also be ideal. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line here is that we are a lot further ahead if we draw on a territorial pool of doctors even if the majority of them were to live in Yellowknife. We cannot continue to rely on locum doctors from other jurisdictions. Having exclusively territorial doctors would be a good thing for the local economy, the housing market, and of course healthcare for the clients they serve. Thank you.