NDP Health Critic Danielle Chartier speaking during Question Period at the Legislative Assembly.
The NDP opposition party is challenging what they say is the provincial government’s lack of spending on northern Saskatchewan health care.
NDP Health Critic Danielle Chartier brought the issue up in question period on Monday afternoon.
She spoke on recent comments from the president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association.
In a recent article in the Northern Pride Community Newspaper, SMA President Intheran Pillay spoke on what he viewed as health care disparities in the north compared to the rest of the province. He says he was shocked by these disparities.
Pillay spoke on the lack of medical services he viewed in specific areas like Dillon as well as the absence of an electronic medical record system across the north. He called this “alarming.”
“The SMA, like the rest of us, are shocked at the lack of services especially in light of recent events in La Loche and the ongoing epidemic of youth suicides,” says NDP Health Critic Danielle Chartier while speaking to the Legislative Assembly. “We see time and time again that the SaskParty does not prioritize health care services in the north.”
For Chartier these perceived health care disparities can be blamed on the SaskParty Government.
“The lack of services in the north are a direct result of this government’s mismanagement, scandal and waste,” she says. “The health ministers will say they are focused on the north, but doctors and patients say that is simply not the reality.”
In response, Minister for Rural and Remote Health Greg Ottenbreit spoke on the areas in which the government is investing in health care across the province, specifically in the north.
“When it comes to physicians we know that under our government we have increased 62 per cent in investments into Northern Medical Services, which is a provider for doctors in the north,” says Ottenbreit. “We have also increased funding to all health regions by approximately 50 percent.”
The provincial Rural and Remote Health Minister also spoke on the matter of jurisdiction when it comes to health care on reserve.
“We do rely heavily on the federal government and First Nation communities to help us provide health care services to these communities,” says Ottenbreit. “We do support medical services for surrounding areas off-reserve, but she is speaking on-reserve.”
For Chartier, however, that’s not good enough.
“When Saskatchewan children are losing their lives it does not matter to what community they call home,” she says.