Madam Speaker, the hon. member asks a very interesting and a very pertinent question. It is one in which we are very interested at Health Canada, mainly because it has to do with the issue of the health of Canadians and of Canadian women.
Before I speak any further on the issue, I want to tell the hon. member that the issue of the number of services delivered has to do mostly with provincial governments and the medical profession. Therefore, that is not something I can comment on. At the same time, I can tell the hon. member that variations by region and by area may sometimes have some very valid reasons in specific interventions in health.
Be that as it may, the federal government is very interested in overall health care servicing: the type of services we get and the quality of services given across the country. We are working with provincial governments and with health care providers to find out how it is we can improve the quality of care and the appropriateness of service.
For example, the Minister of Health has just given money to the Canadian Medical Association to provide Canadian clinical practice guidelines. We need to look at the appropriateness of care to set clear guidelines and priorities for care so that we are
doing the right things to the right people at the right time. This kind of thing is what we are interested in dialoguing on, an evolving evaluation of care, et cetera.
With respect to the issue of women's health, that is of great concern to us. The minister has committed herself to looking at health issues. We have not done enough research and enough work on women's health issues to be able to assess hysterectomies, the validity of them, when they should be done and how often they should be done. We are going on very old data. We need to set up centres of excellence for women, which we are committed to, which will investigate, do the research, get the data and look at the appropriateness of care for women in this country.
I am glad the member asked the question because we believe it is something we need to look at. We have already embarked on the kinds of dialogue we need with the providers and with the provinces to ensure that we provide appropriate care in this country.