REGINA - Controversy continued in the Saskatchewan legislature Monday over the plight of a four year old struggling to get access to a pediatric gastroenterologist.
Last week, Blake Turnbull and her mother Sarah Turnbull were at the Legislature, where alongside New Democrat MLAs they raised the issue of a lack of pediatric GI’s in the province.
Blake suffers from gastrointestinal health issues and she had been placed on a waitlist for a pediatric GI. She had just gone to Edmonton to get major surgery done before appearing at the Legislature last week.
On Monday, the Official Opposition indicated the health situation for Blake had gotten worse. According to the Opposition one of Blake’s interim tubes pulled out, and after being rushed to a Regina emergency room the family was told the tube couldn’t be fixed in Saskatchewan. The family then drove to Edmonton, where Blake had surgery on May 10.
After Blake was discharged, the Turnbulls returned home, where they found in the mailbox a letter from the Saskatchewan Health Authority stating that the pediatric gastroenterology practice of Dr. Simone Nicol, who was the last remaining specialist in the province in that field, was closing on May 12.
“Unfortunately, the Saskatchewan division of paediatric gastroenterology is no longer able to accommodate the referral for Blake, and provision of ongoing care will remain with the Saskatchewan MRP (most responsible physician),” the letter stated.
In Question Period Monday, the Opposition pointed to this correspondence and claimed that the letter had stated that Blake had been kicked off the waiting list.
“The letter from the SHA kicks Blake off the wait-list and says that another referral will be required. How is any of this acceptable to the Minister of Health?” asked Health Critic Vicki Mowat.
Health Minister Paul Merriman repeated replied this would not be the case and had this response, as recorded in Hansard:
“And I can assure the House and the family of Blake that nobody’s being kicked off any wait-list. I will investigate this with the SHA, find out who wrote this letter. But I can guarantee this House that nobody has been kicked off the wait-list. I’ll make sure that Blake is on that wait-list. I will review the wait-list personally, Mr. Speaker, to make sure that it has not been changed.”
Premier Scott Moe spoke to reporters afterwards on the matter. He agreed the lack of a pediatric gastroenterologist in the province wasn’t acceptable.
“We’re doing everything we can to attract medical professionals, and all designations to the province, and I would say, with some success, we are bringing the folks in, but at times there are some noticeable gaps…
“The health recruitment agency is up and running, they have their CEO, we have incentives in place, we have an ambitious Health Human Resources Action Plan that is in place, but we need to continue to work with the SHA to make sure that we are filling these positions that are most notably felt when we a specialist that leaves the province, leaving a noticeable gap. And so it’s not acceptable, and we need to double down our efforts on behalf of the families that are being impacted, when we have these shortages and the resulting gaps in service. In the meantime, the Minister of Health and Saskatchewan Health Authority, the Ministry of Health have all been working to access some out of province teams that will be able to provide that service on an interim basis. But that can’t be the goal in the long term, and it’s not.”
