Nunavut’s long distance doctor service

IQALUIT — Premier Paul Okalik and Health Minister Ed Picco recently paid a special visit to the Pond Inlet health station through the telehealth system at the Baffin Regional Hospital in Iqaluit.

Picco, Okalik and several other MLAs participated in a demonstration that linked Pond Inlet and Iqaluit via a satellite uplink.

The Ikajuruti Inungnik Ungasiktumi network (IIU)— “the tool we use to help people from far away is up and running in Iqaluit, Cape Dorset and Pond Inlet,” boasted a Nunavut government news release issued this week.

The system allows patients to be diagnosed by doctors through a satellite link-up using modern video and computer technology.

“Telehealth is an exciting development,” Picco said. The technology helps to cut waiting times and improve health care access, he said in the press release. “We hope to expand this service throughout the territory.”

Pond Inlet made use of the technology recently when six people on a waiting list to see a dermatologist were unable to make the trip to Iqaluit.

Using the system, the specialist was able to see all six of the patients in one evening.