Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for being here today as we get started on this important study on scope of practice. We're wanting to get an update on where Health Canada is at in terms of managing the processes in evaluating human health resources for federal institutions and so on.
Colonel MacKay, you described the primary care model that DND uses. You described the primary health care team as being regulated and non-regulated persons, and others at the table here described a very comprehensive list of professionals. It strikes me a little odd, if I come back to the military first, that our third-largest primary contact profession is not represented in any of your teams that you discussed today. I'm curious about that.
We have about 75,000 medical doctors in Canada. There are about 19,000 dentists who are primary contact. There are 8,400 chiropractors in Canada; that's a very large and regulated profession across the country. It strikes me odd, when we're talking about human resource shortages, that the third-largest primary contact profession is not represented.
Colonel MacKay, I know that chiropractors made a presentation not too long ago to the Standing Committee on National Defence about representation in the military. We know that amongst their areas of expertise for low back pain it's well established that chiropractors give far more cost-effective and effective care delivery. Chiropractors are working with the U.S. on 51 bases as part of the integrated health care team.
Is there a barrier to chiropractors participating in the primary care delivery, at least as part of the integrated team, to manage musculoskeletal issues on bases? I understand that 53% of your medical releases are actually related to musculoskeletal problems.
Could you respond to that?