Michelle DaCruz
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 17/02) - The North needs federal health care funding based on real need -- not per capita with its sparse population -- the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada heard here yesterday.

Commissioner Roy Romanow heard 16 presentations from the territorial government and special interest groups about how the current Canadian health care system is failing the North.

Romanow was in Yellowknife, one of the last stops in countrywide hearings on the future of health care in Canada. The hearings wrap up in Toronto May 31.

The commission was launched by the federal government April 3, 2001. Prime Minister Jean Chretien said at the time it was in response to issues raised at the First Ministers conference in September 2000.

Its mandate is to examine the sustainability of the publicly-funded and publicly administered Canadian health care system.

Concerns raised by Northerners, said Romanow, are common to the rest of Canada like staffing shortages, geographical challenges to services, the need for home care, a national policy on pharmacare, and a call for amendments to the Canada Health Act.

The current health care plan in the NWT, Romanow said, is one of the most comprehensive he seen in Canada, especially in regard to the Department of Health and Social Services Action Plan, but he understands how geographical challenges can impact the system.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi chastised the federal government for shirking their responsibility for health care needs, especially in regard to aboriginal people, onto the shoulders of the territorial government.

The expectations of people in the North, said Kakfwi are no different than from the rest of Canadians.

"Aboriginal people across the country are struggling to access basic health services," said Kakfwi. He called nurses "the backbone of the health care," especially in the NWT where residents in outlying communities depend solely on their care.

"You can appreciate how much more impact this shortage of nurses has on the health care system in the NWT," said Kakfwi.

The premier recommended a national strategy to deal with the recruitment and retention of nurses.

The system has failed aboriginal people, said Dr. Ken Seethram of the NWT Medical Association.

Seethram recommended initiatives to increase the amount of aboriginals in the North's health care workforce, and to increase research into aboriginal health issues.

At the very least Miltenberger called on the federal government to restore Canadian Health and Social Transfer payments to 1994-95 levels.

Sylvia Stard, president of the NWT Registered Nurses Association, also pointed to the importance of using health dollars for long-term, high-profile health promotion and disease prevention programs that are geared specifically to the North.

"Training of Northern residents to develop and deliver such programming is key to the success of prevention programs," said Stard.

Gisela Becker of the Midwives Association of the NWT and Nunavut asked the commission to recommend enacting midwifery legislation in both territories, and providing comprehensive access to women in every community.