Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my colleague Mr. Ramsay’s questions about the potential savings to this government by bulk purchasing pharmaceuticals for people in the Northwest Territories.
I have a great idea for the Minister, one that will save the government a lot of money. Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that the private sector can do almost anything cheaper than the government can. In Hay River we have a long-established business called Medical Surgical Supply. It is owned and operated by two registered nurses with extensive experience in the Arctic and in small communities. At the present time they purchase pharmaceutical and surgical and medical supplies. They then redistribute these to clients, health centres, hospitals and facilities throughout the Northwest Territories. If the government were going to go to this bulk purchasing idea and this process, this might necessarily require some kind of infrastructure in order to receive and distribute these bulk purchased supplies.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Health, rather than putting a long-established business like the one in Hay River out of business, wouldn’t it be a good idea for the government to consider contracting them on a cost-plus basis to perform this service on behalf of the GNWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That would be one idea that we would need to look into and I’m willing to do that.
The general idea behind finding savings from bulk purchasing is so that a smaller jurisdiction like the NWT could partner with as many provinces as possible. The one that we’re aiming for is the western provinces. This is happening nationally, but provinces like Ontario are big enough that they can find their own efficiencies by doing their own things. The NWT is signed on with the western provinces to see the big ticket items, probably ones not even a small business in the North could buy, but to be a part of the bigger purchasing power so that we can find some savings. We have a lot of work to do on that yet. We have to get all of the authorities in the NWT to agree.
Obviously we need to see how our private sector could play and what role they could play. I would certainly be interested in looking at that.
I know that in the past there was some thought given to putting this function of purchasing pharmaceuticals and medical supplies under the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority and having it actually done through Stanton. Again, no offence to the government, but I submit to you that the private sector could do this cheaper. If this were a function taken on by the government, trust me, it would grow. It would become a massive operation. The thing that is also necessary is when we’re sending out to small nursing stations, they don’t need a hundred or a thousand of certain things. The idea is to understand their needs, break the packaging down, know the best way to transport and get it there. This is knowledge which is already established with this company.
I’d like to ask the Minister, does she agree that that kind of specialized service could be more efficiently provided by the private sector than a government agency?
I understand what the Member is saying and, in fact, I visited that outlet that exists in Hay River. I do believe they already supply a lot of centres in the Northwest Territories. I will make a commitment to the Member and this House that we will definitely factor that in and do a cost-benefit analysis. I would have to do a lot of work with the Members in the next coming weeks to have the analysis done and how we can find savings and wherever possible we need to bring our NWT suppliers into play. I would be happy to come forward with a proposal.
I am suggesting a process that would be cost-plus. We would still, as a government, realize the savings of the bulk purchasing because it would be a predetermined additional cost for the administration and provision of the service. Does the government at this time procure any other supplies on a cost-plus basis under such a plan?
First of all I should clarify that I don’t believe there is a system in place or idea in place that Yellowknife Health or Stanton will purchase for everybody. Right now we have a bit of patchwork going on and this is why we have been discussing that at the Joint Leadership Council. We need to work as a group. We need to agree that we need to purchase together. And wherever possible we would use local resources.
There are other things like pharmaceutical drugs that are used in the hospitals, for example. I think the outlet in Hay River deals with supplies. Purchasing drugs, health centres and hospitals would be doing on their own. We have a lot of work to do in coming out with the details of that.
I would once again commit to do an analysis and put a plan together, and I will be reviewing that with the Standing Committee on Social Programs as we move forward.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Hay River we do have infrastructure already in place. We have a lower operating overhead than you would have in other places in terms of costs. We are very accessible, from a transportation network point of view, to get product out. If the Minister would contemplate going to a request for proposal on this, then all of these things could be brought to bear in considering an option. Also the management and capabilities of the proponents that would actually be delivering the service, these are important things. It’s one thing to just re-box stuff and ship it off to wherever; it’s another thing to know what those front-line workers are doing and have that experience firsthand. Would an RFP be a potential way of looking at getting some information back to the government on the potential for this idea?
That would definitely be one way of doing it. Thus far different health authorities have been putting out their own RFPs. There is more than one business, I believe, in the Territories who does that. What we would be looking at would be doing an RFP for larger and more than one authority at once. It’s a detail that we need to work out, but it’s something that needs a lot more attention and a lot more detailed analysis and I will undertake to do that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
