Kathleen Lippa Northern News Services
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 04/04) - Nunavut's focus on training nurses here is a clear sign to Michael Decter, chair of the Health Council of Canada, that people in the territory are committed to building a strong health care system.

But while visiting Iqaluit, Kimmirut and Panniqtuuq last week, Health Council members also got a first-hand look at the challenges facing the territory's health care system. The shortage of doctors and nurses continues to put stress on an already overworked system. Domestic violence and alcohol abuse is destroying families. Smoking rates are high. And cancer is considered a death sentence in Nunavut.

Cancer treatments available in southern hospitals are prolonging lives. But those treatments are out of reach for most Nunavummiut.

Decter was impressed by the health care facilities he visited, especially the one in Kimmirut.

But the on-going dedication, patience and good will of Northern health workers doesn't wipe away the harsh realities of life in Canada's newest territory: the life expectancy rate of Inuit is 10 years lower than most Canadians. The infant mortality rate is three times higher than the national average. The number of years lost to suicide is 10 times the national average here.

Decter, speaking on behalf of the council, said needs of Nunavummiut will be documented in a national report that will be made public in 2005.

"We have to do first class reporting on health care in the North," he said following a meeting in Iqaluit on Thursday.

No help for the ailing

But a report on health care is little comfort to Kendal Greenley.

"We need better health care," said Greenley, a Grade 11 student in Taloyoak who suffered a knee injury in May. "The doctor maybe comes once a year, and they can never see all the people."

Greenley wants answers to the health care woes of her people.

She is tired of waiting for doctors, and watching people around her with more pressing health issues, such as failing eye sight, suffer too.

"I'm still waiting to see a specialist," she said. "I'm not in pain all the time, but I can't play sports."