Health Canada investment in broadband connectivity

News Release: Harper Government Invests To Improve e-Health in Saskatchewan First Nations

Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) will invest $5.8 million over 5 years to expand and improve broadband connectivity to 83 First Nation health facilities in Saskatchewan.

Health Canada's investment will enable 83 Saskatchewan First Nations communities to have better access to e-health services. This complements investments made over the past five years in FNIHB's e-Health Infostructure Program (e-HIP).

Greater information-carrying capacity of broadband connections will enhance a broad range of health services delivered by First Nations communities with support from Health Canada, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, and regional health authorities.

For example: A dermatologist can see a patient's skin condition via video and get a sense of whether it is serious and needs treatment from a specialist or whether it can be treated locally.

Those same videos can be used for training purposes for health professionals and community health workers, so that a community doesn't lose them for an extra day or two just because of travel.

This investment is an important contribution to e-Health progress in First Nations communities.  E-Health is a priority area identified through the Saskatchewan First Nations Health and Well-Being Memorandum of Understanding, committed to by Health Canada in 2008.  This represents one more step in our work towards a ten-year Health and Wellness Plan for Saskatchewan First Nations, designed to improve collaboration and integration of health service delivery.

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