Statements in Debates
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, December 9, 2011, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Government Operations:
Mr. Michael M. Nadli, the Member for Deh Cho;
Ms. Wendy Bisaro, the Member for Frame Lake;
Mr. Daryl Dolynny, the Member for Range Lake;
Mr. Alfred Moses, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake; and
Mr. Norman Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu;
And further, that the following Members be appointed to the Standing Committee on Government...
As everyone in the House is aware, infrastructure money is short with the government at this time. We are doing health infrastructure. We are continuing to forge ahead with health infrastructure. We’re looking in areas where there is a need, an immediate need for long-term care. We’re looking right across the territory in all of the regions. Hopefully we’re building in the region where they’re looking, as an example, in the Sahtu to build a long-term facility. We’ll offload some of the pressure in Inuvik. We’re hoping that if that happens, there will be room for other people in Inuvik, and we...
I actually thought about that, having lived in Hay River myself many, many years. I actually thought, you know, it’s a really nice place to go. I don’t understand myself why we’re having difficulty recruiting doctors to live there.
Yes, it’s recent. It’s something that we’re attempting to do in order to help, for example, the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to recruit physicians that can live in Hay River. Thank you.
The project to turn the operating room into a super clean operating room is out to tender now. Our objective is to have the operating room operational, I guess, on April of 2012, this coming year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason that the Stanton Territorial Health Authority is not actively doing elective joint replacement surgeries at this time is due to ongoing renovations to the ventilation system. They have to achieve a super clean operating room in order to do joint replacements because there is high possibility of infection with that type of surgery.
The Member is right that this is an issue across a lot of jurisdictions who are unable to get physicians to go to a lot of their rural areas. However, our whole system in dealing with the federal government is not specific to recruiting doctors. We do have discussions with the federal government on the Health Accord and the federal government provides money through the Health Accord to the government, which portions of it can be used for recruiting. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the Government Operations committee appointments motion I gave notice of earlier today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health is working with the Department of Human Resources to get a health human resource specialist involved in developing some sort of recruitment strategy for physicians that need to come to the Northwest Territories outside of Yellowknife to try to fill the vacancies. We have almost 100 percent vacancy across the territory, with the exception of Stanton and Tlicho.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the deputy chairpersons of Committee of the Whole motion I gave notice of earlier today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.