Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about the health care assessment that could be done in the Sahtu communities, specifically in Fort Good Hope where an increase of cancers are being diagnosed by the physicians either in Yellowknife or Edmonton or even in the Inuvik area. Can the Minister let the people know in Good Hope that there will be proper testing of the people who are afraid that they may be getting sick or they may have some other illness that they should be aware of and getting it treated right away?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated previously in questions about the cancer rates in Fort Good Hope, our attention is to pay attention to that, as well as other communities which have come forward as a result of questionings from the Member as you hear in the House, and we’re working with the chief public health officer within the department to develop some sort of strategy to address the issue.
Now, in as far as the actual testing goes, I’m familiar with how that process works, but if there is testing to be done in Fort Good Hope about cancer, we’ll do it.
Exactly what the Minister has indicated is what the people in Fort Good Hope want. They want to know if there’s some sort of proper testing that can be set up in the community because of the increase of cancer recently by the health care on our residents. It was done in Aklavik several years ago. Certainly it can be done now in Fort Good Hope. So I would ask the Minister if he would begin working with our health board and the staff, to start implementing some guidelines to the health centre so people then can be assured when they go to the health centre, if they request a test that this test could be carried out in Good Hope or another hospital.
I think that anyone who wishes to go for testing through a lab and through the physician, the physician essentially fills out a form, and individuals going to the lab get all the tests necessary that get fed back to the doctor. In the case where we go into a community to do testing, I’m not 100 percent sure that we do that specific type of testing, which I will check into. I know that the one method, for sure, is for individuals to go to the doctor, then to the lab and then get the results back to the patient that way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A number of my community constituents talked to me while I was in Fort Good Hope. They said when they go to the health centre and they complain about a sore back or sore stomach, the nurse usually refers them to Tylenol, Extra Strength Tylenol. She says, here, take this and come back. Usually when they come back, it’s serious. It’s sore and she again gives them Tylenol. I want to ask the Minister if this method can be stopped and the Minister can ask the health centres if they ask for testing, because we don’t have doctors all the time in the health centres, that they could go for further testing if it’s a sore stomach or back and people know there is something that is possibly there.
People know their bodies really well. They know they need to get tested. We need to get support from the department. Can the Minister give directions to the health centres where physicians are not always there on a 24-hour basis?
Clinical decisions are generally made by medical practitioners such as nurses and so on. However, if there are cases where individuals are sick, and they’re coming to the health centre and they are being treated for pain and sent home, then I think that the message has to go out from us to the health authorities, that that type of practice should not be continued. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly applaud the Minister’s messages to the health centres. Too often people in my communities go to the health centre, they’re given some mediation and then they’re sent home. I’d ask again if the Minister would let the health centres know that when people come in and they are requesting some further testing, that that can be done as soon as possible so that the people then can know that they can catch the disease or whatever they have earlier so it can be treated.
Right now in Good Hope there’s a cancer scare and that’s not good for people. I ask the Minister if he would give specific, special attention to people of Good Hope that they will start looking at the cancer testing of all the people.
The testing that occurred in another community that the Member refers to was testing for something else that may have been easy to test at the community level. I’m not sure how easy it is to test for cancer, but what we can do is have the department make it very clear to the health authorities and health centres that catching cancer at stage 1 is the most efficient way, has the greatest possibility of curing the individual and the least expense to the public purse when we are able to catch cancer at the first stage and not the fifth stage. So that message can be sent to the health authorities and the health centres that we try to do as early detection as possible. So if people are coming in sick and suspect they have cancer, the health centre and the health authorities should respond to that urgently.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Colleagues, I’d like to recognize the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts was here today for the tabling of her annual report. Welcome to the House.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
