Sanikiluaq man with kidney disease gets the boot from Nunavut

The arm of a patient who is connected to a dialysis machine. Dialysis is a life-saving treatment for people who suffer from kidney failure, cleaning waste from their blood. Dialysis machines are not available in Nunavut. (CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGE BY ANNA FRODESIAK)

Nunavut’s health department is forcing a Sanikiluaq man with kidney disease to become a resident of Manitoba so the Government of Nunavut can avoid paying for his dialysis treatment, Hudson Bay MLA Allan Rumbolt said Oct. 28 in the legislative assembly.

The man, who Rumbolt did not name, currently receives dialysis treatment in Manitoba, Rumbolt said.

“Now it seems that he’s being pressured to become a resident of Manitoba and Nunavut’s department of Health no longer wants to provide for his medical treatment,” Rumbolt said.

Dialysis machines provide a life-saving treatment for people who suffer from kidney failure, cleaning waste from their blood. Dialysis machines are not available in Nunavut.

Rumbolt made the comments during question period at the assembly, but when asked outside the assembly chamber about how the Sanikiluaq man is being pressured, he wouldn’t elaborate.

“You would think that if you leave one of our communities to go get medical treatment in the south, you’d be treated as a Nunavut resident,” Rumbolt told Nunatsiaq News.

“It just doesn’t make sense that you’d have to give up your own residency in order to get the treatment that you require as a patient.”

The territory’s health department has come under fire before for stranding Nunavummiut in the South after they get medical treatment outside the territory.

In 2005, Palluq Manning of Cape Dorset was left homeless, sick and alone in Ottawa after he was sent to Ottawa suffering from kidney failure.

This past summer, the department refused medevac service to a young mother and her two children after the mother unexpectedly gave birth while in Quebec.

The Department of Health organized the necessary health services and found an apartment for the patient requiring dialysis treatment in Manitoba, Rumbolt said, but the only piece of furniture in the apartment is a bed.

“He’s being left to fend for himself for the rest.”

A local radio announcement recently asked for donations of money and household items to help the Sanikiluaq man, Rumbolt said.

Rumbolt asked the minister of health, Monica Ell, to clarify the options available to residents who are forced to leave the territory to get medical treatment not available in Nunavut.

“I’ll take that question as notice,” Ell replied, saying she will reply at a later date.

Rumbolt wasn’t the only MLA to raise this issue with the health minister during question period.

“Can the minister clearly explain the GN’s policy with respect to long-term residency of medical clients from Nunavut who are forced to relocate to another jurisdiction to receive health care?” Rankin Inlet South MLA Alexander Sammurtok said.

In his member’s statement, Sammurtok acknowledged the high cost of frequent medical travel to the South, and said it makes financial sense to relocate a Nunavut resident for extended treatment.

“However, it doesn’t seem right that the GN should declare that this individual is no longer a Nunavut resident and transfer the responsibility and cost of their care to another jurisdiction,” Sammurtok said.

“Nunavut residents who must leave their homes, families, communities and culture to receive necessary medical care do not deserve to be deprived of their status as Nunavut residents.”

Ell took Sammurtok’s question during question period as notice as well.

“I only talked about one patient, so you can’t expect the [health] minster to have details on every patient,” Rumbolt told Nunatsiaq News outside the assembly chambers, “but it would have been nice if she elaborated on the policy a bit.”