Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to ask the Minister, does he know how many NWT students are currently studying in the field of medicine to become medical doctors in the south at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are 11 medical students that have taken the medical student bursary. There could be a few more that haven’t taken the bursary. That means that they’re probably not intending to return to the territory, but there are 11 that have taken the bursary. Thank you.
Does the Minister of Health and Social Services know how many NWT residents who’ve gone out and studied to become medical doctors have actually returned to serve in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
I was not able to get that information together today. I will agree to provide that information to the Member as soon as I have that information. Thank you.
I’m sure the Minister is keenly aware of the fact that we’re very interested in having resident physicians in Hay River, so these numbers and statistics are very much of interest to the Members who represent Hay River and to the people of Hay River.
I’d like to ask, of the 11 medical students that are in southern Canada studying now that have taken the bursary and will come back for return of service, is there anything else in the plans or in the works at this time that would further enhance the incentive to return to the North or support these medical students in their studies. Thank you.
There is a plan in place where we intend to actually visit the students that are getting close to completing. Of the 11 students, two of them are in first year, two are in the second year, one student is in the third year, we have two students in the fourth year, two students in the fifth year, and two students have completed the program and will be returning to the NWT for some intern work. The plan is as these students are getting close to completing the program, that we’re going to visit them – by we, I mean the Department of Health and Social Services – to have that discussion to see if there’s a possibility of placing them in the Northwest Territories to practice. Thank you.
When the Minister or departmental officials visit these students who are in various stages of completion of their studies to become medical doctors, when they have these meetings, I would like to ask, will the Minister or his officials be encouraging any of these students when they graduate to come back on the return of service. Will you be sharing them or are you going to put them all in Yellowknife? That’s what I’m trying to ask you, to get to the point. We would like to see some of them in the regions, not just all in the capital, and I’d like to know will that be part of the discussion. Thank you.
I have asked the Joint Leadership Council, that’s the chairpersons and the public administrators of all the health and social services authorities, and they’ve had a discussion with their CEOs to put a recruitment strategy together for physicians. Within that recruitment strategy we are asking each of them to develop various ways where they can recruit physicians to the regions. Some initial discussions we are having with the health and social services authorities are fairly interesting, and we’re hoping that we will have a plan that we can move forward with by September, or we will have a plan that we’re moving forward with in September. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the attempt on a national basis to distribute the human resource, I guess, of medical professionals amongst regions where they’re in most demand, and that being rural and remote regions, will the department consider any different inducements for students graduating, to come and serve and do their medical practice in a smaller community, as opposed to what they would get paid and what incentives they would have to serve in Yellowknife? It’s a commonly employed practice. Could there be extraordinary inducements for them to locate outside of the capital? Thank you.
Any inducements will not be monetary. It would be things like looking at doctors that may be interested in doing things that are common in the smaller areas. I know that one of the CEOs was going to websites where individuals were going hiking and canoeing, like, outdoor adventure-type websites to see if there were doctors that were going there on a regular basis that might want to come to the Northwest Territories because there is a lot of that to offer in the Territories. There are a lot of wild outdoor adventures to be able to be offered in the various regions. This is one thing that we have looked at. We’re asking each of the authorities to develop a recruitment strategy that’s creative to try to bring people. As I indicated in the House previously, plan A is to bring people into the regions, doctors, physicians into the regions; and plan B would be to try to create a territorial pool within the Northwest Territories, whether it be in Yellowknife or Hay River. If Hay River’s able to attract, Fort Smith is able to attract doctors that will work in other regions, then they’re going to be open to all of those various methods. Thank you.
