Budget doesn’t address rural paramedic staffing issue: union

The provincial budget falls short in addressing staffing issues for rural paramedics, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals says.

“We certainly didn’t see what we needed to see in the budget,” president Jason Linklater said Tuesday.

He said staffing is the “No. 1” issue the union, which represents 700 paramedics across the province, needs addressed, especially in western Manitoba.

“We know that there’s a move towards transitioning primary-care paramedic positions to emergency medical responders,” Linklater said.

“It’s a terrible transition to go and reduce service in an area that is absolutely critical to save lives.”

He urged the province to staff hard-to-fill spots in rural Manitoba to ensure people with a medical emergency don’t wait an hour or more for help to arrive.

“It’s a terrible transition to go and reduce service in an area that is absolutely critical to save lives.”

Finance Minister Adrien Sala said the province is improving health-care services for people in rural communities with a new paramedic career pathway.

“This year we’re going to see 100 new paramedics graduate from programs that we’ve supported as a government, and those individuals are all going to head out directly into paramedic jobs around Manitoba,” he said during a conference call with rural reporters.

The budget includes a $5,000 incentive for a one-year return-of-service agreement for emergency medical responder training that was initially announced in November.

“We know there’s still progress to be made when it comes to bringing more paramedics into our rural communities, and again, I think this budget does a lot to ensuring that rural Manitobans get access to the health care they need when they need it,” Sala said.

Linklater said the bursary funding and return-of-service agreement is “nowhere near enough.”

He said the province’s commitment to hire 200 new paramedics within its first term isn’t going to happen when only 18 net new paramedics have been employed by Shared Health since October 2023.

“They have one year left to do it. It’s not an option,” Linklater said.

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said at that rate, the province won’t be addressing ambulance wait times in rural Manitoba at all.

Brandon West Tory MLA Wayne Balcaen said Brandon is experiencing a “paramedic crisis” with more ambulances being used to transfer patients to Winnipeg, which he said the health minister has yet to address.

— Brandon Sun