Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. And those are the questions I have for now. Thank you.

Thank you. Health and Social Services, administrative and support services. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to confirm there, I guess on page 191, is that the health and social services authorities funding that 33,275, is that related to the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority?

Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you. I'm not sure if it relates directly to that. We do have a section at the end -- well, some of it relates to directly to that. $3,361 relates to the language support for Hay River Health and Social Services. There is a section of the budget at the end called funding allocated to health authorities in which Health and Social Services -- Hay River Health and Social Services has its own page and some of the spending is -- well, all of the spending is detailed there. This is specifically page 213. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Earlier today the Minister mentioned that we have a physician shortage of approximately 40 percent -- 46 percent. Is that reflected in the budget, or do we carry that number, I guess, for a full complement of physicians, or do we budget based on that we're always going to be, you know, short physicians, because it seems like it could be a substantial number. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we budget for the full complement of doctors because if we are not spending them on resident doctors then we're spending them on locums, or we're spending it -- the money on overtime for resident doctors or callbacks and those kind of employment situations. So not having doctors doesn't save us money. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess that was kind of my next question I guess was, you know, if we're not hiring doctors, are we saving money or is it an additional cost because we don't have doctors due to possibly, you know, sending people south or some other forms of healthcare services? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. I think most of those questions, they would be related in the operations expenditures because those go to health authorities. But just so that we're talking about it, this is the department. Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Okay, I'm trying to grab the question. So where we don't have resident doctors to provide specialized services, people are sent south for treatment. So most recently you would have heard about the rheumatology program. There was a regular visitor rheumatologist who became unavailable. And the result of that is we were unable to hire another resident or long-term rheumatologist and so people are going south to receive treatment. We decided that that provided the best continuity of care. So I think that more than anything, the situation with rheumatology points to how fragile our health system is, that it's not very deep, the bench isn't very deep. Once we have a couple of midwives leave or a rheumatologist leave, then we are very short-staffed and looking to Alberta to help us provide the services residents need. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Health and Social Services, administrative and support services. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you. I see here, okay, the administrative has increased to $935,000. And human resources increased to $1.06 million. And all 80 administrative and support services positions are located in headquarters. Can any of these positions be decentralized to regional office, like, sonographer. You know, like, we've been asking -- there's a lot of challenges why some people do not want to go to Yellowknife to access services. There's the transportation. There's the childcare. There's the interpreters. So there's all kind of reason why some people choose not to go to Yellowknife to access services. So I'm just wondering if any of -- some of these positions can be transferred or can be decentralized to the regional office -- to regional -- to the larger regional or to the small communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can I confirm with the Member that she's looking at page 192?

Yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, these are Department of Health and Social Services staff. There is only the one location. It's in Yellowknife. And it provides the policy, legislation, financial, and service support for NTHSSA and for the Tlicho Community Service Agency and Hay River Health and Social Services Agency. So the service delivery is decentralized but the policy and planning is located in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Yes, thank you. Well, this is where I think we -- we're all saying that, you know, we need more jobs in small communities. Some of those jobs I think it can be delivered from small communities -- in small communities. So I'm just asking if some of those positions can be transferred or can be decentralized to small communities.

Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.