Prenatal escorts in Nunavut already eligible for travel funding under new policy – NunatsiaqOnline
April 19, 2017
But the GN says new policy is still being updated
A newly-announced Health Canada policy has already been put in place to fund non-medical travel companions for pregnant Nunavut women who leave their communities to give birth.
The new directive came from the federal health minister, Jane Philpott, during a media interview she gave earlier this month.
Philpott said forcing pregnant couples to pay for their own travel, or worse, leaving women to travel or birth alone, had “a whole bunch of negative outcomes,” she told the Canadian Press.
“It requires significant resources in order to be able to do that, but it is absolutely a wise investment,” Philpott said of the policy change April 9.
