Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this House why residents who choose to travel on their own to seek medical attention are unable to seek immediate reimbursement for medical travel? Especially when they are diagnosed with an illness that would require medical travel out of the territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the Member that the way medical travel works is that the patient needs to see a care provider in the Northwest Territories who refers them for services in the south that are not available here. And then in that case, medical travel pays for the travel, the hotel, the ground transportation, and so on. If people go and book travel on their own to see their own practitioners, the expense is theirs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we need more programs and services in small communities. Indeed, the health care systems needs to be improved, especially in small communities. If it was okay, then all these things would not be necessary.
Can the Minister explain if any review of the medical travel policy is underway to allow for more flexibility in these circumstances for the residents of the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're always interested in hearing about people's experience with medical travel in an effort to improve it. We have done reviews of different aspects of the medical travel policy while I have been the Minister. And at this point, our primary focus is negotiating with Canada to sign a new NIHB agreement, which includes the compensation for medical travel, to include a wider range of escorts. We hear many complaints about the lack of escorts, and we would like to improve that but we need the funding from Canada to make that work. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are losing services in our communities and when we go to regional centres to access treatment, our residents are being turned away and denied access to care. What is being done to ensure there are no systemic barriers to accessing programs and services? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Member for that question. No one who turns up at the emergency department in Yellowknife is denied treatment, and people from anywhere in the Northwest Territories are welcomed to make appointments in Yellowknife when they think they're going to be here. So I'm not really clear what the barriers are that the Member is talking about. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
I don't want to get into it, but I will do it later, okay.
Will the Minister of health commit to a medical policy review to ensure that residents who access care outside of the NWT, especially in urgent situations that require hospitalizations or treatments that are unavailable in the NWT, can qualify for medical travel? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my time as health Minister is drawing to a close so I'm unable to commit to any further examinations of the medical travel policy. But I encourage the next Assembly to continue its focus on improving those services. Thank you.
Thank you. Order. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
