Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of health. Who is the authority making the decisions on medical escorts being approved? Thank you.
So, Member, are you asking for the health and social services --
-- yes.
Okay, thank you. Sorry, I thought I heard housing, my fault. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, non-medical escorts are recommended by the health practitioner and may be approved by the medical travel officer if their request for medical escorts meets the criteria in the respective policy. And so the Northwest Territories -- the Government of the Northwest Territories, we have a policy that lays out what a non-medical escort for when people are travelling for insured services and then there's also -- like, I mean, this is where we can get complicated and then if it was -- it doesn't meet the GNWT, there is an option to -- if they're Indigenous, we could put a request through NIHB but then that would go to NIHB, and we would have to wait for an approval from them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many non-medical escort requests have been denied for elders requiring assistance in the last year?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I look at what non-medical escorts that have been denied, I don't have that data. I can find out if the department tracks that data as to breaking it down to who was denied or what the reason was denied or -- and when I look at -- when they say denied, it's they don't meet the criteria. So within the medical travel policy, some people may not meet the criteria, or the person who's recommending the non-medical escort may not put in detail and are aware of the policy so that they need to ensure that they document what those reasons are so that the medical travel staff can do the proper approval. But what I will do is I will commit to the Member on this information if we do have that information available. Thank you.
Colleagues, before I go back to the Deh Cho, Member from Deh Cho, I'd like to recognize representatives from the Office of the Auditor General in the Assembly today, Andrew Hays, Shawn McEleny, and Emily Ann Devalle. So welcome to our Assembly. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to review the policy to ensure it is being followed properly? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, the plan is for the review of the medical travel policy and some of these areas that the Members have raised are a part of the review of the policy. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
I don't have any more questions, sorry. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
