Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 11/02) - Dying alone is a fate few would envy, yet it is one faced by many planning to live their lives out in the North.

In the budget-slashing days of the last legislative assembly, the government cut off its support for family members who wished to be by the side of their loved ones while they received treatment, or awaited death, in the south or in regional centres.

Tu Nedhe MLA Steven Nitah said many of the elderly in his communities of Lutsel K'e and Fort Resolution lived out their last days and weeks alone in hospital.

"I understand travel is expensive and that the health care system must be sustainable," Nitah said on Thursday. "But is it reasonable or compassionate to expect people to leave this world alone?"

Members of the legislative assembly turned their focus on the inconsistencies and shortfalls of the government's medical travel system, a system currently being reviewed by the Department of Health and Social Services.

Many of those in need of treatment are expected to pay a share of the cost of getting to a hospital that can provide it.

The federal government covers the $250 charge for aboriginal, metis, seniors and infants under the age of two.

Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen said pregnant women are expected to be at Yellowknife's Stanton Regional Hospital a full three weeks before their due date. In addition to the $250 co-payment many must bear, during their weeks in the capital they must pay for accommodation and transportation costs and pay for child care for any children they have left behind.

"We pride ourselves on a system that is unlike the U.S., where it costs thousands of dollars to have a baby," Groenewegen said, calling on Health Minister Michael Miltenberger to waive the cost of the co-payment.

Miltenberger acknowledged there are major problems in the Northern medical travel system, but said the system puts the focus on care first and costs later.

"Unlike the Americans, where they reach for your wallet and your credit cards and your medical coverage slip first, our first concern is the well-being of the patient."

The review of the medical travel system, initiated by Groenewegen when she was health minister, has taken longer than first expected.

Two requests for proposals resulted in no suitable contractors to conduct the review.

An internal review is expected to be completed by the fall.