Officials from the Yukon Hospital Corporation were in the legislature Monday to answer to the territory’s politicians.
Opposition members asked about hospital contracts, staffing and services.
NDP MLA Jan Stick asked why some dialysis patients are forced to leave the territory for treatment.
Dialysis treatment is used to clean someone’s blood when their normal kidney function has failed.
Some kinds of dialysis can be done by the patient at home, but more complicated treatment requires expensive equipment and specialized support.
The hospital corporation is looking at the feasibility of providing hemodialysis in the Yukon, says CEO Jason Bilsky.
“We’re always looking at any situation where we can provide as much care as possible closer to home. In the case of hemodialysis, absolutely. We look at things closely on a regular basis to make sure that what we can provide here is effective and providing good patient care. I might point out, though, that it’s always a challenge to maintain equipment and technical staff available to be able to provide these very specialized services, but it would always be our intent to do it in the best possible way that we can.”