2nd Igloolik infant death prompts concerns

Questions about Nunavut's health-care system are being raised again after a five-month-old girl died this week in Igloolik, marking the second death of an infant there in the past two weeks.

The baby's parents found her dead at home on Tuesday morning, Francis Puigattuk, the child's grandfather, told CBC News.

Puigattuk said the child had been very ill for a week and was seen by a nurse at Igloolik's health centre twice. But both times, the infant was sent home, he said.

The cause of the child's death has not yet been determined. Her body has been sent out for an autopsy.

Puigattuk said he wonders what it takes for patients, particularly sick babies, to get attention from medical staff.

Another parent, Lizzie Qulitalik, told CBC News last week that her nine-month-old daughter died at home on Feb. 19, even though the baby had been seen by nurses three times in a two-week period.

Qulitalik has said her daughter had a high fever and other flu-like symptoms. But each time they went to the local health centre, nurses sent them home with Tylenol and an oxygen machine, according to Qulitalik.

Health advisory issued

Nunavut's Health Department issued an advisory on Wednesday about a flu-like illness spreading in the territory, after H1N1 and H3N2 influenza cases were confirmed.

The department is urging parents to take their young children to local health centres if they have a fever.

"I didn't realize there was a spike [in] flu like symptoms going on throughout Nunavut, but [health officials] did issue an advisory," Health Minister Tagak Curley told reporters outside the legislature on Wednesday.

Curley would not comment further on the latest infant death, but he said extra nurses have been sent to Igloolik.

Several Nunavut communities have reported widespread illness, including Sanikiluaq and Arviat.