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Petition
Presented September 9, 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.
We have so many over here
we just do not know who is going to start with them, I
guess.
I appreciate an
opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to deliver I believe it is my
fifty-fourth petition concerning dialysis services to
the southwest corner of the Province.
Now, we have just heard
from the Minister of Health about all the difficulties
there are trying to meet the demand for services with
the bank book that you have, and the ability to pay for
all of these things. When, of course, you stand in the
House to deliver such a petition you feel almost like
you are swimming against the tide because you do not
know if there is ever any chance of getting such a
request fulfilled given the bleeding heart story that
the Minister of Health will give you.
We have a few stories of
our own to tell from Southwestern Newfoundland when it
comes to dialysis. We have ten or twelve people out
there at any given time who have to truck over the
highway from Port aux Basques, get past the Wreckhouse
in all kinds of weather, and they do not do this, as the
minister was talking about in his X-ray thing: Well, I
have only ever had three or four in my life, or my dad
has only ever had three or four. Well, in this case,
these people have it three times a week. They leave home
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, every day of their life,
to go to Corner Brook for dialysis. Now, there is no
need of it. We have a facility in Port aux Basques that
can accommodate it physically. We have staff there who
are prepared to train to do it. The people want to have
it done there. We have agreed, as a community, that we
will provide the money through fundraising to buy the
equipment. Now, what is the hang-up with getting that
provided? You know, we cannot even get a decent answer.
The former Minister of
Health, who knows - me and him had a chat here once
outside the House. We had a meeting in Corner Brook; he
met with the council back when. Now he has gone on; he
has moved on to other pastures. Never did get anything
done, and you talk about what a government is supposed
to do.
We are asking here for
some of the basics. We are asking government to just
make a decision that we are even prepared to talk about
it. We know we have these people every day of their life
who live with this and we need to have somebody even
talk about it to see what the options are. Is it
possible to do this?
If I am suggesting
anything that is not possible, tell me. If it is not
possible, if it comes down to the fact that: No, you do
not have the trained personnel, or they cannot be
trained; no, it costs x numbers of dollars that you are
not even taking into consideration, Parsons - if there
is something like that, tell us why it cannot be done.
When you, day after day, pound your head in here and ask
for some kind of simple answers like that and never get
them, that is more frustrating sometimes than the
problem itself.
Mr. Speaker, I will
continue with my submissions in this House all the time,
but hopefully we can even get a response and somebody
say: Let’s have a chat about this and see what we can
or cannot do.
That would be a good
start, to show that you are listening enough to even be
concerned. That is the first start, I suggest to this
new minister who is on the job here, and hopefully we
will get some of that from him that we did not get
before.
Thank you. |
