For Inuit in northern Quebec, care closer to home could cut down on stressful medical travel – CBC

Dec 20, 2022

Plans for new hospital could reduce the number of patients forced to travel south

If a patient in Nunavik requires specialized medical care, they have to get on a plane and travel more than 1,400 kilometres to Montreal.

But a new regional hospital proposed in Kuujjuaq, Que., could help keep some patients closer to home.

“We deserve it. We need it,” said Jennifer Munick-Watkins, the new executive director of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, which has been pressing for a better hospital for years.

Nunavik, the autonomous region of northern Quebec, is currently served by two health-care centres, one on each coast — Ungava Bay and Hudson Bay.

The hospitals are small and outdated and only offer basic services. Occasionally, specialists are flown in to treat patients, but their availability is limited.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-nunavik-hospital-health-care-1.6690843