Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It should come as no surprise today that my questions are directed to the Minister of Health. As I mentioned in my statement, we have 18 confirmed cases of syphilis, as of last Friday, in 2008 alone. Compare that to less than one case last year and four in the last 13 years. My question to the Minister is: why do we have this continuing increase in the number of syphilis cases in our territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make sure everyone knows that the Department of Health and Social Services and myself as Minister take any infectious disease situation very seriously, as we do the latest outbreak of syphilis. It appears that there were a number of individuals with syphilis that were highly contagious at the time of contact.
The public health medical officer, chief medical health officer Dr. Corriveau, is using all of his authority and powers to assess the situation, identify who has this infectious disease and track all those that may have come into contact with it. We are keeping a very close eye on that, and he is working with the local health centres and communities and the media to raise awareness to address this situation.
I thank the Minister for the comment. I recognize the efforts of the department, as she’s outlined. I’m having great difficulty in understanding why the department thinks these actions are enough. I feel that they’re very understated.
Again, my question is to the Minister. Why is the department not taking aggressive action to publicize this threat to our residents, alert them to the potential risk, and provide them with information on access to testing?
The chief medical officer and the department have been very aggressive. It has been on the media and in public announcements. They are working on the ground, in the communities. They’re in close touch with all of the community health workers. They’re screening potential people who might come into contact with it. They’re keeping track of who are the originators and who they’re having contact with. They have very good information about their whereabouts and their travel schedules. They have sent out communications through doctors and nurses and anybody else who would have any contact with the individuals. We are very aggressive in getting on top of this latest syphilis outbreak.
I guess we have to agree to disagree on the definition of aggressive. It’s been more than a month since the first sort of spurt of confirmed cases came forward. We now have 18 cases, and the cases are continuing to increase. I trust the Minister that there is action happening, that we have professionals doing their job, that things are going forward and that the work is being done to try and stifle this outbreak.
My personal experience is that I have seen nothing except a report in the newspaper some three or four weeks ago. If there is a publicity campaign, it’s not that noticeable. I would like the Minister to try to explain to me what the actions are that the department is taking that is alerting everybody to the current outbreak.
The department and the chief medical health officer have contacted all the communities where we know these cases are occurring. They are using social networks on the ground. Some of our health care professionals are going door to door with community people who we know are able to provide assistance in a culturally sensitive way. We are doing aggressive screening for those who are in a high risk group.
I would like the Member to know that the chief medical health officer has vast authority and power under the new Public Health Act. He knows he has all the options available to him, and he will use his power and exercise it accordingly. At the moment he feels that the measures we are taking right now are allowing us to have very good knowledge about who these people are and where they are and what their potential contact might have been. So I want to assure the Members as well as the public that this is a top public health issue right now and that we’re doing everything we can to be on top of it.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that those actions are being taken on the ground, but I go back to the need to publicize this particular situation. I think that if people are aware that there is an outbreak of syphilis and if people know that they are particularly engaging in behaviours which can lead them to be at risk, then that information has to be out there. I think a much more aggressive publicity campaign and educational campaign is warranted. I’d like to know if the Minister and department are considering that.
Mr. Speaker, the department works all year round to promote and encourage safe sex. The use of condoms would prevent most contagious, sexually infectious diseases, including syphilis. We are aware that these conditions are occurring more commonly in certain areas than others. Health officials are aware of that. But we want to make sure that everybody in the Territories is vigilant and taking necessary steps, and if we announce what areas they might be in, they may think that they’re safe. So we would like all residents to know that this is a highly contagious infection and that everybody should be practising safe sex at all times. The use of condoms is encouraged.
As the situation progresses, we will take all measures under the Public Health Act, which is quite vast in its authority and power, and we’ll make sure that we protect public health and safety.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
