Yellowknife (Sep 12/03) - There's still a lot of work to be done before the NWT is prepared to sign off on a new national health council, said Health and Social Services Minister Michael Miltenberger.

"We've made some positive progress but we still need a tight, clean mandate so everyone involved knows their responsibilities," he said.

Health ministers from all 13 provinces and territories met in Halifax last week and agreed in principle to the creation of a national health council.

Among other responsibilities, the council would make sure federal health funds were properly allocated and provide advice to provincial and territorial health boards.

Miltenberger said the cost of creating a health council could reach into the tens of millions of dollars, but the bill would be paid from federal coffers.

The creation of a national health council was one of recommendations of the Romanow report, which outlined a $15 billion overhaul of the Canadian health care system.

Miltenberger said over the next few weeks, NWT health officials would work closely with their counterparts in the other provinces and territories to iron out the details surrounding the creation of the council.

Still to be resolved is a location for the council, a budget and a clear definition of its powers.

Miltenberger hopes those issues will be settled in time for a meeting of provincial and territorial premiers in Quebec next month.

While in Halifax, the health ministers also discussed creation of a national disease centre to manage outbreaks like SARS and West Nile virus.

"The SARS outbreak was a wake-up call," said Miltenberger. "Our resources were stretched to the limit. We need to have some central mechanism in place to deal with outbreaks like that."