Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I know I have raised this issue in the House before in regards to the area of orthodontic services in the Inuvik region. There was supposed to be a contract let, yet, Mr. Speaker, I am still receiving phone calls from parents in regards to the amount of time it is taking for their children to be seen in regards to this important service. I would like to ask the Minister exactly why is it taking so long to get this position filled and, more importantly, why are parents having to wait months on end and nothing seems to be happening? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. The Member is right; we have had some delayed services in the Beaufort-Delta region due to a lack of contract; well, the provider. The Beaufort-Delta authority was able to sign the contract in August but the contractor was not able to begin work until November. There is a backlog list of patients that need to be seen. I will undertake to look at where we are with this and I hope to be able to report that they are going to begin delivering the services now that it is November. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, there is a very long backlog in regards to this. There are a lot of people waiting. I heard from a lot of constituents in the three communities I represent. There have been people waiting for almost a year and a half and still haven’t received this service. Is there a possibility that different health authorities, whoever can assist the Inuvik region through this transition and get some of these patients into the system either in Yellowknife or elsewhere so that we can try to bring some remedy to the situation and shorten the waiting list that people are waiting for the service?
Mr. Speaker, this is a service being provided by the federal government under NIHB. We assist in the process in terms of providing space and helping them with the administrative procedure. I agree that this is an important service. I will get a complete update on when the service will start, how many people are on the waiting list and what options they are looking at to speed up the process, including what the Member has suggested. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, it will be nice if the Department of Health and Social Services, the Inuvik Regional Health Board could maybe put out a public advisory letting the people know what the status of the situation is so that they can stop calling our MLAs and also get the information to the people that require that. I would like to ask the Minister if they can also notify the public on the status of the situation and also work with those families and parents to deal with this matter. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, I would ask them to publicly advertise and update the public as to where that program is. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
