Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask questions of the health and social services Minister regarding our electronic medical record system. I know this is something that we've all agreed needs to be done, and it's being worked on. It just seems like it is taking a long time, and it seems so fundamental to making our healthcare system work well in so many different respects.
So my first question is, can the Minister give us an update on where exactly we're at with the establishment of the electronic medical records system and if there are any updated timelines on when we might have some progress? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has stated, this is an important piece. We have been in the process of compiling what needs to be done working, I think, with procurement to be able to put out the RFP. There are some things that are -- there are challenges within our system, and this is an urgent thing and we're hoping that with the delay that we're working -- we're working with the finance Minister's department to be able to move this forward a little faster. At this time, I think we're looking at the procurement within 2026, early 2026, but I can't confirm that to be exact right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I certainly -- I appreciate the Minister is trying to expedite that and will look forward to early 2026 having at least some progress towards the RFP. But in the meantime, we don't even seem to have a system where our doctors can talk to the Alberta system even though many of our patients are going back and forth obviously in and out of the Alberta system. Is there some kind of data sharing agreement that we could reach with Alberta so that our NWT-based practitioners can at least just get access to Alberta's electronic medical system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NTHSSA, along with I think -- I can't confirm, I know that we're having conversations with the information privacy -- is there's -- with the cross jurisdictional information sharing, there is none like this in Canada right now and so there's legislative -- not on our part but on their part that -- to be able to do this. That's why there's -- there's a whole working group, I think, within Canada on sharing of health information. However, we are looking at trying to find some quick, shorter solutions, and that is where my -- like, NTHSSA and the department is working with the -- I can't remember the -- under the Minister of Finance's department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Just finally I wonder if the Minister could give any kind of timeframe or time scale to seeing some -- something come out of that work. You know, there's obviously working groups and -- but is there a goal or a date that we're working towards to see an outcome there? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all I can say is right now they are collaborating with Alberta to try -- with the Office of the Chief Information Officer, the department is trying to collaborate with Alberta to see what we can do. So once we have the information as what we can do, then we can kind of come up with a timeline of when that can happen. And once we have that, I'll let the Members know. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
