Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to return to a subject similar to the one I just asked earlier to the health Minister but also in this Assembly, which is rheumatoid arthritis, Mr. Speaker.
Over 300 cases in the NWT are active in the sense of people need regular and ongoing treatment, some twice a year, sometimes up to four times a year, and have to fly to Edmonton for treatment. So the point being here is, Mr. Speaker, is there a better way. Rheumatoid arthritis requires a $300,000 paycheck. Has there been any analysis on understanding for value for service? So in other words, has the Minister, and her department obviously, done any work on analyzing the cost effectiveness of bringing a rheumatoid doctor to the Northwest Territories to provide clinic treatments? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what the Member is saying is what we do want. We want to be able to recruit and have specialists to be able to come to the Northwest Territories to do this. We do know that it's hard on our residents to have to travel all the time. It's -- you know, there's costs involved with that. However, right now I know that they do have -- they are working collaboratively with the Alberta Health Services to try and recruit within their -- because it's within their jurisdiction, to be able to recruit many of these specialists, you know, coming to the Northwest Territories. You know, if we put out the positions, and we have in the past, the agreements that we've had with other specialists, there's nobody that wants to move here right now in these positions. And so even with recruitment, trying to do that. So we're closely working with Alberta Health Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Now, Mr. Speaker, there are a whole suite of services when it comes to specialists. I am just going to call them specialists. So what type of analysis specifically are we doing? So in other words, have they done business case analysis studying about bringing these types of specialists to the Northwest Territories to run clinics here? And if that's the case, can the Minister share that with people like me? Furthermore, if it isn't the case, would she just say that? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work that's being done, the analysis that's being done on the out-of-territory physician services, is in the -- the analysis is being completed within the health sustainability unit team. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, that's a lot of information that doesn't say a whole lot. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister be very specific and share what analysis that have actually been done and targeted to particular specialists so we can see what type of business case models the department is considering; would she share that information? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can do is I will go back to the NTHSSA and have a conversation with them of what they have done in the past; however, everything that they have done in the past and in these analyses, they are working closely with the health sustainability unit as that is one -- I believe that there's six or seven targeted areas, and that is one of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
