Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will be tabling a written petition of 27 signatures, calling for the early introduction of midwifery services throughout our communities.
This paper petition is in addition to the e-petition that will remain open for signatures until January on the Legislative Assembly website. My colleagues for Hay River North and Frame Lake have spoken this session on the need for early introduction of midwifery services throughout our community. I will add my voice to theirs.
The Minister of Health has heard the sound arguments: improved social functioning, enhanced autonomy, bringing birth closer to home, increased continuity of care, decreased stress, improved access to culturally appropriate care that promotes the ancestral traditions of midwifery, and the increased opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention.
Let’s not forget the money. Keeping mothers in communities rather than flying them around, putting them up, and delivering children with very expensive physician care costs us huge sums. We are building a regional health care delivery system on the basis of the community health centre. Midwifery service is an indispensable element of this model. Deferring these benefits in the cause of savings today is penny wise and pound foolish, and fails to continue the progress improvement of community health centre services.
I want to give a respectful nod to the hardworking group NWT Citizens for Midwifery that has recognized the need for an NWT-wide perspective and is so strongly supporting the development of midwifery services in our regions. I also support the adoption of this approach by the Minister of Health and Social Services.
In this session we continue to hear the Minister talking about consulting, planning and preparing. He said last Monday that we’ll be doing community consultations and preliminary health human resources planning for midwife recruitment and training options. While I appreciate this work, it is years since the previous Minister deep-sixed the Yellowknife program. We hear that Minister Beaulieu is aiming for 2015 for the new regional program. We’ve had enough delay. Like my colleague Ms. Bisaro, I’m calling for the inclusion of this programming in the next 2013-2014 round of business planning.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
