Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Can the Minister outline what specific steps the department is taking to improve the consistency and availability of dental services in small and remote communities, particularly in communities that have gone extended periods without a dental visiting -- a dental provider. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Dehcho. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Member's question, right now what we are doing, immediate steps what we are doing is ensuring that there is a process for everyone who is covered under their insurance, applicable insurance. So for First Nation/Inuit, that would be through NIHB; Metis benefit, then they would go through that program or extended health benefits or employer benefits. But while saying that, that will help to access the travel to get to the dentist in the capital, or if you're in the Beaufort Delta sometimes it helps to get you to Whitehorse, what we're doing right now is we've -- we have done and completed the analysis. As many of the small communities, the dentists have highlighted the equipment in the communities as not -- you know, it's broken, it's not working. So we have done an application to the oral health access fund, and we are just waiting on that to see if all of that will be funded therefore then we will move forward and replace all of the equipment that needs to be replaced in all of our small communities.
We are also working closely with health and social services and Indigenous Service Canada on an interim solution and getting those RFPs out to being able to -- for those communities that do have working equipment, to get the dentists traveling back into those small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that lengthy answer. And I will have -- some of the questions I have is -- she's answering them. So given the significant and rising costs associated with medical travel for preventable oral health issues, can the Minister explain how improved community-based dental services could help reduce pressure on the GNWT's medical travel budget and what actions are being considered to achieve these savings? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, routine dental treatment services for NIHB-eligible residents are federally funded, and so anybody traveling for those dental services from the small communities that are 100 percent recoverable through NIHB for that travel and the appointment. While we don't fund the NIHB dental contract, what we're -- access to the community-based care would naturally decrease in the number of cases requiring out-of-community or out-of-territory travel that ISC is currently assessing on a case by case. So everybody has to put in the application before traveling, and those are assessed by ISC, because they're the payer.
One of the things that we are doing is we have -- we do have some dental therapists still in the system so those regional dental therapists are working with the regions. However we noted, to the previous Member's comments, is that there's not very many of them out there. So what we're looking at is the option of different, like dental -- or dental hygienists at this moment. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is what work is the department undertaking with Indigenous governments, local health authorities, and dental professionals, to develop sustainable, community-driven, preventable oral health programs that reduce long-term dental issues and improve overall health outcomes? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the communities, dental -- or sorry, community health reps can be doing a lot of that health promotion, especially in the public, in the schools, making sure that, you know, it's an important part of teaching kids to make sure they're brushing their teeth. Also, the other piece underway is the modernization of dental equipment as I mentioned. But I would like to say that there are some Indigenous governments that have taken some more leads in this area, and I would -- the IRC for instance, they have established their own program, you know, with funding from ISC, and they hire their own. They've trained community members to do health promotion on dental care in the communities. They've hired dental therapists that come in and meet with residents in those communities. So there are some areas that Indigenous governments are taking lead, and we're working -- we'll always work with them. Thank you.
We just spent 15 minutes on three sets of questions. Please be brief with your questions and brief with your answers.
Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
