Mr. Speaker, the mobile ultrasound program has dramatically improved maternal health outcomes for the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in northwestern Ontario. The current sonographer will retire soon. Any replacement will cart hundreds of pounds of equipment to 16 remote communities. This rules out many qualified women.
One option is to equip these communities with cart-based scanners at a one-time cost of $15,000 each. Another option spends hundreds of thousands of dollars bringing people to a central location for scans. Will the Minister of Health decide to save money and buy the scanners?