Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like if the Member could repeat the question. Maybe it is something that we would require assistance from the Finance Minister to respond to.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once the determination has been made that we will add this bariatric care or obesity or in the whole area of those being overweight to the insured services and how we deal with obesity into insured services, then we will make a decision on when and how we will go through the process. Part of the process would be if an insured service is added, then it will be more cost. Once that determination is made by the Medical Association and by the department that bariatric services will be added, then we will come back to the House for more money to carry out that service.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We don’t believe there has been an increase. If there has been an increase, then we can get back to the Member, but we don’t believe there has been an increase in that area in the last three or four years.

For that price, the authority can, if they need a BiliBlanket, proceed with purchasing one. On the other question, we don’t know if there are BiliBlankets in some of the small health centres or not.

If additional financial resources are going to be issued to NGOs that are not currently in the budget, we would have to go back through the business planning process. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There will be a lot of detail and bureaucratic response, so I will ask the deputy to respond to the Member on that.

We don’t see any need to change the act. If he’s referring to the cost of changing the act, then no, we don’t see any cost.

Madam Chair, we don’t know when the last payment was made to resolve this dispute. We could go back and check to see when the last time this was an issue, and we can check the date on that. But I can say that it’s not an issue now.

The regulations being developed for Hay River, again, would be a regulation that’s developed so that the midwife services are delivered on a regional basis but not the full regional basis. We are trying to, as we’re getting the new hospital and health centre in Hay River, then we’re going to roll midwifery services into that facility and there will be more regulations developed in order to do a regional and, ultimately, a territorial one that will be based out of Yellowknife. That is the reason that we’re rolling it out in that way.

Madam Chair, yes, that is in the works. As I indicated in the House several times, we are making a strong effort with the health authorities to bring doctors to communities where the doctors should be. We are definitely having difficulties getting doctors into Hay River. We are hoping that with the new health centre, plus our work with the NWT Medical Association, we are going to be able to have doctors in Hay River. If that doesn’t work, and if that doesn’t work in any of the other communities where there should be doctors, then yes, a plan B would be to move to a pool within the NWT, a...