Yellowknife, N.W.T. - Canada's premiers are embarking on a plan to buy generic drugs in bulk to try and bring down health care costs, but the NWT won't be involved just yet.

As it stands right now, it will only be the provinces that will enter into a national bidding process with drug manufacturers beginning this fall and it's hoped the savings will be seen by April of next year.

The deputy minister of Health and Social Services, Debbie Delancey, said the department was consulted on the initiative, but the current system doesn't allow for bulk purchases by them.

"The purchasing of drugs is actually done by eight separate Health and Social Services authorities, and so for us to move towards bulk purchasing, we first need to do some work within the system to kind of get everybody on the same page with respect to procurement."

Delancey said there have been talks with the eight boards to see how it could all be done, but there are some questions still lingering.

"What saving could we achieve, and what efficiencies could we put in place if we did move to a more consolidated procurement approach?"

She added the cost of drug buying right now isn't as big a pressure on the territory's budget compared to the provinces, but it is rising quickly.

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