Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister of health recognize that the future of our health system is not just to keep moving our specialized services down to Alberta and bring back our rheumatology program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our priority is always patient care. The reality of the size of our territory is that we can't attract or fully engage specialists here the way a specialist working in a population of a million people can. So we continue to depend on Alberta health services to supplement our healthcare system, and we're very grateful that they triage our patients the same as Albertans so that we get very good service from them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I recognize that sometimes we have to cancel a service because it is difficult; there's not the ability to get those practitioners. But I want to know whether this cancellation of rheumatology is a permanent cancellation because we couldn't find a person or whether this is now the new reality that we have lost this program forever? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to, first of all, say that the 400 people who need services from rheumatology continue to get those services, not in Yellowknife but in Alberta. So the program is not offered here but there are services available to people with rheumatoid arthritis.
What I want to say is that this is a temporary interruption. The medical director has been clear that the intention is to rebuild the program with a better service model that provides care close to home and she continues, I know, to work on this as a priority.
In the past, we have closed the chemotherapy unit and also the colonoscopy unit in order to rethink and improve the services and those services, of course, came back and rheumatology will too, but I can't say when.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm wondering if when this decision was made, or if the Minister of health knows, whether this is actually more expensive? I imagine that we are sending 400 patients down to Alberta, we're going to get quite a big bill both from Alberta and our medical travel. So I'm just curious, in the longterm, when we're looking at rebuilding this program, does that actually save us money? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, this is a core service of the NTHSSA and so when people need this service, it's provided, and so we budget an amount, which we'll see in the main estimates. But if it turns out there's more demand than we have money for, then we go through a supplementary appropriation to ensure that we have the money we need to pay for the services that are offered.
The additional cost here is for medical travel but we always paid Alberta for the services and so we continue to pay them, in Edmonton now, rather than operating here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope that this is a priority to rebuild this program. And my question is, I believe at one point the hope was to build the continuity of care and not just be a rheumatology but, you know, a multidisciplinary arthritis program. And I'm wondering if in the plans going forward to do that that is in the works? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you. I don't have any information on a comprehensive program.
Osteoarthritis, which I have, and rheumatoid arthritis are different conditions. Rheumatoid arthritis is an immune system issue, usually diagnosed in people when they are in their early 30s and requires ongoing care. Osteoarthritis is not the same problem, and it's dealt with by orthopaedic surgeons, not by rheumatologists. So what I can see happening is that the more intense care that people with rheumatoid arthritis need will be rebuilt here in the NWT so that we can achieve our two goals of making patient care close to home a priority and having the service offered here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, our time for oral questions has expired. I'd just like to caution Members not to get too deep into a bill while it is before committee or committee deliberations for the next following weeks. But I do understand major concerns. Thank you.
