Nunavut’s health minister promises “dramatic improvement”

Nunavut Health Minister George Hickes rises in the Nunavut Legislature June 1 to defend his department against criticism from several MLAs. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

If you’re unhappy about the health care services you’re getting in Nunavut, call your MLA.

“When we go to a health centre and we are feeling ill and we know there is something wrong, be persistent.

“If you feel you are not getting your situation addressed appropriately contact the patient relations office. If you’re still not feeling satisfied, contact one of us who represents the population of the territory in our communities,” was the advice from Health Minister George Hickes, who spent most of the Nunavut Legislature’s June 1 question period fending off questions from MLAs who heaped criticism on what Hickes called Nunavut’s “continual challenges in dealing with health care.”

Among other things, these challenges include 39 people who have been diagnosed since the beginning of 2017 with tuberculosis, Hickes revealed, as well as the death of Ileen Kooneeliusie, 15, of Qikiqtarjuaq, who died of TB Jan. 14 at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Hickes said her death was a “a terrible situation.”

But, while Hickes encouraged sick and disgruntled Nunavummiut to call their MLAs when unsatisfied with their health care, he also said the recommendations from the Coroner’s Office of Ontario, with the Coroner’s Office of Nunavut, into the circumstances around Kooneeliusie’s death won’t necessarily be made public.

“My first priority is to the family. That will be my first point of contact when these results are finalized and with the discussions there, we will dictate how to proceed further,” Hickes said.

So, the call for more information that Uqqummiut MLA Pauloosie Keyootak sought from Hickes about a cancelled medevac for Kooneeliusie before she died may go unanswered.

Other MLAs asked Hickes to explain the department’s policy for escorts and medical travel—and constraints sometimes imposed on breastfeeding mothers—and they complained about sickness and injuries which weren’t promptly attended to.

From Aivilik MLA Steve Mapsalak came questions for Hickes about the lack of permanent nurses in his community of Naujaat where the MLA said some people have to wait for up to two days to see a nurse.

And then, because there are so many temporary nurses rotating in and out, some don’t know much about the community of about 1,000 at all.

“In some cases, questions have been raised regarding whether the temporary nurses have the appropriate training to meet the health needs in the community,” Mapsalak said in a member’s statement.

For Mapsalak, Hickes promised three new permanent nurses were on the way to Naujaat.

He also pledged that the health department, which recently went through a largely negative performance review from the Auditor General of Canada, would see “dramatic improvement in the future.”

In the damning Nunavut health audit, the auditor challenged the Government of Nunavut to achieve results.