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Petition
Presented May 7, 2009
Dialysis Unit for Western Newfoundland
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MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
It gives me great
pleasure to present my sixth petition on behalf of the
people of Southwestern Newfoundland with respect to the
dialysis needs that exist in that region.
I am not certain if the
minister has the actual submission now, because besides
the request that has been going on for years to have
this dialysis satellite at the LeGrow Health Centre,
there is actually a formal proposal being submitted to
the minister, through Western Health, from the
nephrologist there in Corner Brook and the chief of
staff in Port aux Basques.
Of course, it seems to be
very strange when you have a petition for a dialysis
satellite on something that is so straightforward. We
already know the numbers of people who use it right now.
We have nine people in need of dialysis, who are
currently travelling from their homes in places like
LaPoile, Burnt Islands to go to Corner Brook three times
a week to get this service. Whereas, the equipment that
they need to get this done in Port aux Basques in the
LeGrow, the people of the region are prepared to buy the
equipment. They will pay for the equipment. So it is not
an equipment need.
The training that is
required for the nursing staff, they are prepared to
undergo the training. It takes about six weeks training
of a nurse in order to be competent and prepared and
capable of handling this dialysis equipment. They are
committed to undergoing that training.
So we have a situation
where the need exists, the money is there for the
equipment, the staff are there prepared to undergo the
training to use the equipment, yet we cannot get the
Minister of Health to even look at the situation and
tell us why that cannot be done.
Now, they have to pay the
nurses, as I understand it anyway, if they are going to
be working. We are paying all kinds of costs out of the
government right now. A lot of these people, for
example, they are low-income earners who do not have the
money to get to Corner Brook three times a week. The
government is footing the taxi bill three times a week
times nine. Twenty-seven taxi bills that go out over
that highway three times a week for twenty-seven trips.
Now that is not cheap. You go back and do the math on
how long the government has been doing that, it
doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it
is much cheaper to do this in Port aux Basques that it
is to pay these costs.
By the way, it is not
only the taxi fare. Because whether you do the treatment
in Corner Brook or Port aux Basques, somebody has to do
it. It is a cost to the Department of Health to have
nursing staff and trained technicians doing this. That
cost is there. That has not changed. You have to feed
these people, and in a lot of cases they don’t go
alone. They have travel companions because of their
health situation. Guess what? The government foots the
bill for those as well.
We have a situation where
it doesn’t make any practical financial sense for the
government to continue this, as it currently is. The
equipment can be purchased at no cost to government, the
training can be done, and yet this government, in its
wisdom – we can’t even get the Minister of Health to
respond with a letter. They met with councils out in the
Corner Brook area last fall, and, would you believe it,
they have been waiting six months to even get a letter
back from the minister. Surely there are enough people
in the Department of Health who can write a letter for
the minister saying why this is not possible or why we
can’t get on with this.
We talk about reports
sitting on shelves gathering dust. You have to question
what is going on here when we can’t get one simple
letter from the minister.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. |
