Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made a statement on medical travel, and my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Medical travel involves, especially in my riding of the Deh Cho, either patients travelling from Hay River Reserve or else by plane, if they have the choice, or else from Fort Providence, Kakisa or Enterprise travelling by vehicle. Unfortunately, sometimes people are not given the choice to travel that long road between here and Fort Providence, so it becomes quite the experience.
Who decides if it’s okay for a patient to travel home by taxi after surgery? Is there a doctor involved in this decision, and if so, how is it communicated to medical travel staff? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The decision on medical travel is a clinical decision, so it would be a physician. It could be a doctor; it could be a nurse practitioner or possibly even a registered nurse, when the person is in recovery and going back home. Thank you.
How does the Health Minister justify not paying for meals and accommodations when a patient has to come to Yellowknife for medical reasons? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I recognize that it’s an issue in the medical travel. Right now the budget for individuals to come and travel to a community is very, very minimal, and we are examining that and recognizing the fact that the amount of money allocated on a daily basis, the per diem for meals, is insufficient to cover the amount needed to be able to eat three meals when you’re on travel. Thank you.
I understand that a couple years work went into the review of the Medical Travel Policy but it remains unchanged. What is the status of that review? Mahsi.
Yes, the review is complete. We are actually looking at making actual changes to the medical travel, to improve the medical travel system for the patients. I don’t have the specific dates on when the changes will occur, but the review is completed. We know what the problems are. It’s just a matter of incorporating change into the system now.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicated, if medical travel is required, a physician is required. Communities that don’t have health centres, in particular Kakisa, if a patient has to travel to either Hay River or Yellowknife, they make a decision. If there’s going to be a review of the policy, can that be considered to accommodate the needs of residents from Kakisa that doesn’t have a health centre? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, yes, that is going to be part of the review. In places where they don’t have any nursing or places that don’t have any actual health centre or nursing station, we’re going to try to accommodate those communities as much as possible in the new changes to the Medical Travel Program.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
