Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I talked about the insensitive Medical Travel Policy that is not responding to needs suggested by doctors for serious and necessary treatment. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: will she investigate these denials for medical travel and medical support and see if we can grandfather these into the system until we have true, fair and honest treatment available here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is -- and I think it’s something that everyone agrees in the Territories -- that we have one of the most, if not the most, generous benefits program under our medical travel, as well as extended health benefits. It is really important that we maintain the integrity of the program and that we make sure that everybody follows the rules. So anybody who is not approved under medical travel or extended health benefits is because they do not meet the program guidelines. That’s what we expect the staff to do with respect to this policy and we will continue to make sure that that is the case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’m really glad the Minister brought up the fact of not approved. Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about people who were approved and sent down for medical treatment and were getting consistent medical treatment. Then one day someone decided maybe this doesn’t quite jibe with the policy so let’s completely cut them off and not offer them an alternative treatment here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, that’s specifically who I’m talking about and exactly the issue. So would the Minister be willing to reconsider and commit to this House that she’ll investigate these files and perhaps grandfather them until there’s an alternative, real solution here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this situation that the Member describes has to do with weight loss reduction clinics as well as pain clinics. As I’ve already said in the House before, those are not benefits that are eligible under the Canada Health Act. Weight loss reduction or weight loss procedures are not covered anywhere in Canada. It is not an approved medical procedure. Neither is pain clinic in private clinics.
I want to say that we do approve those as an exception where a doctor feels that that is appropriate, especially in pain management. What we require from our patients is that they go back to the physician to make sure that the doctor is paying attention to the treatment that this patient is receiving. So nobody’s being denied as long as they follow the process with regard to pain management. With regard to weight reduction, that is not a covered program under any health care system. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister quite often underrates her authority as Minister and I think she could be in charge on this particular problem. We are talking about medical travel that was approved. Regardless of how it got into the system, the fact is people start to depend on these both emotionally, physically, psychologically. These become major setbacks when all of a sudden one day you’re told your illness is no longer important for us to care about because it’s not on our list.
Mr. Speaker, in short, these are medically supported by doctors and even the Minister says exceptions can happen. So would the Minister be willing to go back and tell this House that she’ll re-examine these files and perhaps we can find some way to solve this problem to help these people? Thank you.
I think the Member is mixing up the facts here, because the situations that he’s brought to my attention are cases where our residents got approval for exception pain clinic appointments in Edmonton or wherever two or three years ago and then that process continued on under medical travel, which is against the policy, and we need to make sure that everyone follows the Medical Travel Policy. When they get an approval for pain clinic or something under exception, they are required to go back to the physician to make sure that the doctor follows up. So where they’re having no doctor intervention for two or three years or a long period of time, we need to make sure the doctor supervises the treatment that these patients are receiving and that’s totally within the rules. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is now confusing the problem. She said they were approved and now we’re not approving them. So, Mr. Speaker, maybe if we could go back, and if the Minister is willing to commit to go back and see if we could re-evaluate these files through her office, perhaps we could solve this problem and show a little humanity on this particular issue and see if we can send these people out for these particular cases. And may I remind the Minister: pain is not a very comfortable thing to live with every day of your life. Thank you.
As I stated earlier, we do have a very good medical care system, extended health benefits systems, Medical Travel Policy, medical escort. We invest lots of money to make sure that our residents who need care are receiving that care. I think we have the right to ask that doctors are involved in these treatment processes. When we discover that a doctor has not been reviewing the file or the patients have not been going to the doctors to make sure that they are being supervised, we need to ask that, and that’s what we asked to do. That’s how the policy will be implemented. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
