Statements in Debates
Thank you. I will ask Ms. Mathison to answer this question, please.
No, that's not a factor. The reprocessing of endoscopy instruments is in a different machine than that which was giving us trouble through the fall.
Yes. When that question was asked about two minutes ago, it was 1,500, so I am going to say it's still 1,500.
Thank you. The biggest driver is medical travel. That involves both the costs and the volumes of scheduled air travel and inflation on the ambulance contract. That's what I am aware of. I am going to ask the assistant deputy minister if he would like to add more detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding that the health authorities do do their own budgets, and they present them to us. We get a level of detail there about what their planned spending is. For more information, I will ask Ms. Mathison if she wants to add anything. Thank you.
Yes. Thank you. That is a federal program, but the assistant deputy minister will be able to answer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start for thanking the Member for drawing attention to this Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. It's a very significant problem all around, but especially in the Beaufort-Delta. She will be pleased to know that the program rolled out as planned in January of 2020. The response rate was low in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok, so the kits were sent again in November of 2020 to those communities. In total, there were 1,157 FIT kits distributed, and the screening rates in the smaller Beaufort-Delta communities, that is, excluding Inuvik, doubled from 7.9 percent to...
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to refer the question to the deputy minister.
Excuse me, Madam Chair. Could we switch witnesses again, please?
Yes. Thank you. The point of the vaccine is to reduce the severity of illness should it be contracted. In the NWT, we have not reduced isolation times based on having the vaccine, so the real point there is to reassure people about their safety in the event of infection. Thank you.