The physicians ranged from Arctic veterans who had spent decades in Iqaluit, to people who made a regular committment to come back for a few weeks or months every year for many years, to keen young physicians who want a year or two of exotic experience before settling down, to "tourists" like myself, just visiting for a couple of weeks to see what it is like.

The level of dedication was impressive, especially considering that they are all on salary, and get no more money for taking on extra workload. While I was visiting, the surgeon spent a weekend making a trip to see outpatients in Pond Inlet. This involves a four hour plane ride in a cold noisy plane, to get to a place where it is -45C and dark for the whole weekend, and where the food and accommodation are less than luxurious.

My work was not at all onerous. Usually the hospital tries to get GP anaesthetists, who can also work in walk-in clinics in the afternoon, after the surgical list. As a specialist in anesthesiology, I was overqualified to work in Iqaluit. Any cases which were at all difficult or complicated were automatically shipped south. There just was not the infrastructure to support cases which might need complicated postoperative care.

I was also impressed by the back-up the Nunavut physicians got from their colleagues down south, mainly in Ottawa. It seemed to be much easier to arrange either an elective consultation or an emergency transfer from Iqaluit to Ottawa than it was from Orillia (110 kms north of Toronto) to Toronto. Apparently some sort of "retainer" type payments are made to ensure that this service is available from Iqaluit.