Doctors Manitoba offers treatment plan for political parties to heal sickly health-care system

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This article was published 17/08/2023 (794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s doctors have written up a new prescription for Manitoba’s ailing health-care system – and they think some help could come from south of the border.

With less than two months until the Oct. 3 provincial election, Doctors Manitoba has announced seven recommendations it believes would improve health care.

“We know health care is a top concern for Manitobans as they prepare to cast their vote this fall,” Dr. Michael Boroditsky, president of the physician advocacy group, said during a news conference on Thursday unveiling its Prescription for Health Care recommendations.

“We want to offer a prescription for improvement available to all political leaders in advance of the political election on Oct. 3.”

The seven-point plan recommends the province add 250 professionals into physician practices, including primary care, community-based specialist clinics and hospitals.

As well, the non-partisan organization recommends recruiting 400 more doctors during the next five years, bolster hospital capacity for both seasonal surges and once-in-a-generation pandemics, create a team approach with social workers and other health care workers in doctor’s offices, develop alternatives to hospital care for seniors, recruit more psychiatrists and psychologists, reduce wait times, increase immunizations and look into patients having an electronic medical record and the potential of artificial intelligence being used in medicine.

All three provincial political parties on Thursday touted their plans to fix Manitoba’s ailing health-care system.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Doctors Manitoba’s recommendations “perfectly” align with his party’s health-care platform, adding the New Democrats will flesh out more about their plans in the weeks to come.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont insisted his party’s platform is the one that aligns most closely with Doctors Manitoba’s recommendations.

“To really change health care for the better in Manitoba, we need a revolution in prevention,” Lamont said. “We’ve committed to that by making sure every Manitoban has a clinic with a family physician, or nurse practitioner, with wrap-around care from health teams.”

Lamont said his party also plans to expand team-based care in clinics.

Premier Heather Stefanson said the Tories are “committed to healing” health care.

“We know health care didn’t break overnight, and we know it won’t get fixed overnight, but we are on the road to recovery,” she said, adding the Tories will announce more details about their health-care plans later in the election campaign.

Meanwhile, Boroditsky said he believes the province can also recruit doctors who graduated in the United States and other countries around the world.

“People are realizing we have phenomenal health care here in Canada, we have a wonderful quality of life in Canada, remuneration is definitely fair and equitable… instead of the other way, why don’t you guys all come north?” he said. “Manitoba needs to take advantage of that.

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“We need to show what we have to offer, and not just be the default between Ontario and B.C.”

The Doctors Manitoba recommendations come on the same day an Angus Reid poll revealed a majority of Manitobans aren’t happy with the provincial government’s performance on health care.

The poll found only 21 per cent of Manitobans are very or moderately satisfied with the provincial government’s handling of health care, second only across the country to New Brunswick at 18 per cent. Saskatchewan and Quebec, both at 37 per cent, are most satisfied.

As well, 35 per cent of Manitobans — the third highest in the country — don’t believe the provincial government is making health care a priority at all, while 54 per cent believe the province isn’t making the issue enough of a priority.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.