Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I am going to talk about medical travel in the NWT. I feel like a broken record, but I feel like I need to drive this point home.
Since taking office, I have already dealt with several medical travel-related issues with constituents, and with each passing case, I am seeing the same issue come up again and again. I am seeing cases where people are dealing with some fairly serious medical issues and are in need of further assistance, so they are sent to Yellowknife or Edmonton for treatment. Doctors will recommend a medical escort; however, our medical travel personnel are denying medical escorts in the vast majority of cases I have seen so far.
In most of these cases, it is elderly people who require medical travel services, and of the cases I have seen, English is almost always the patient's second language. Right there, we have two strong reasons for why patients in these cases should be approved for medical escorts. We also have to consider the state of mind and body that some of these patients may be in when being sent for medical travel purposes. It can be a daunting and stressful experience when being sent alone to a strange place while undergoing serious medical issues. As well, I am hearing first-hand accounts of people being denied a medical escort, even when a doctor recommends that an escort be provided for the patient.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that our government is trying to cut costs where they can, and I believe they are doing it to the detriment of the needs of our constituents when it comes to medical travel and medical escorts. I hope to see more compassion on this policy front over the course of this Assembly. This area is in need of review, and I know that this issue affects all regions of the NWT, not only mine.
In closing, patients in care deserve the best care possible and patients need to be informed of what's going on with their bodies, and these policy gaps put lives at risk. There are language barriers there that need to be addressed immediately, and I am hoping that the Minister of Health and Social Services can speak to that a bit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services shortly. Marci cho.