Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is actually a lot of work going on at the national level, and so there is -- at the health Minister meetings, this was a hot topic of all Ministers, that we all raised this issue that there needed to be more -- the physicians to be able to move freely within the -- or within Canada so that way that they could assist in other areas when needed a lot more easily. And then -- but so where we are right now is, you know, with the new health Minister, I'm hoping that I'll be able -- as I said, we're planning meetings with the new Ministers. One session has concluded...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think when this issue comes up, what I can say is I'm always willing to work with Members when they bring these issues forward, and I think my office has, you know, even on weekends and everything, has tried to ensure that they are doing their due diligence to turn this issue around. However, sometimes when it's out of our control because it's in a different jurisdiction, then we have no leverage on if they're in a different province. So that means that they have to access the services in that province if they've travelled there on their own, and that's why I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for raising this issue. This issue has come up with residents who are using the non-insured health benefits program. The non-insured health benefits program, as you said, is a federal program, so we, on behalf of the federal government, administer parts of their program. Part of the program that we do administer is supporting First Nations and Inuit with medical travel when it's beginning from the Northwest Territories out, and then there's a process that gives them an approval for escorts through that same process when they're leaving the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that question and, again, as I've travelled through -- you know, and I'll take an example in Fort McPherson, because I know they are very active on their radio, so any member can go in in Tsiigehtchic. The CHR goes on the radio and talks about things that the community, that she's seeing, you know, and stuff like that. So any CHR with the information that they have that's supporting -- you know, that we can provide them, if they need more information from the NTHSSA or within the department, you know, to raise that, you know, recently. And...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has said, we are modernizing the medical travel, and we will be reviewing the extended health benefits in this next few -- like, I think it's one year from the time, so we'll start the review in September. And, yes, the medical travel benefits were applied across the board for those specific disease, but now that's been removed and they have to use the medical travel policy. So there is lots of different pieces going on. But with the review of the medical travel modernization, I believe that this has -- we will -- like, I have flagged this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of the end of April, we have 894 non-senior residents approved. We have 3,671 seniors approved. Of those non-senior -- oh, yes, 461 were formally on the specific -- specified disease condition program. So right now, we have 433 brand new registrants. What I can do is get our enrolment database to record -- I mean, they do record the clients' region so I can share that information with the Member once we have all of that information compiled. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm not wanting to paraphrase but I've heard from enough people through -- since being the Minister that one of the issues is people do leave. Some people -- you know, maybe they don't -- they can't afford or they don't know and they don't get the travel insurance, and they get sick. I can raise this with the Minister of Indigenous Service Canada who this program falls under, but as of the Northwest Territories, this program is funded by them so we administer what we negotiate with them, so I can add this as something that could be looked at, but I can't commit that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I shared the last meeting that was this week with the Members, and we are working on the next couple of regional wellness council chairs as the public administrator is travelling through all the regions, attending, visiting the health centres, working with staff, meeting with the regional wellness councils in-camera and then meeting in -- and listening to the public as they bring forward their issues to these regional wellness council meetings. So as those meetings are scheduled, as those are in control of the regional wellness councils, that is when we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I would like to say is that with the new locum rates that are being -- we are already getting an uptake of people contacting to come to work, and so the department -- like, the OMAC, the office of medical credentialing, is working with those and working with NTHSSA as well as Hay River health authority, to look at their staffing levels within the health authority, and a lot of times staffing schedules are done in increments. And this is something that is not new and so as the -- as we get locums, you know, people apply, and then we fill up the...

I withdraw my comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.