Province adding psychiatrist positions, adding funds for recruitment to under-served areas

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This article was published 27/02/2024 (610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government is adding nine new psychiatrist positions in Winnipeg and Selkirk and providing funding to a recruitment program to get the in-demand specialists to rural and under-served areas in Manitoba.

A $2-million increase to annual operational funding will be used to create the new psychiatry positions, while the University of Manitoba Max Rady College of Medicine’s residency training program in psychiatry will expand its placement program to ensure three positions are designated for rural and northern areas in 2024 and four in 2025.

“Every Manitoban deserves quality mental-health care,” Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said in a press release Tuesday.

“These initiatives are helping our relatives heal and maintain good mental health by providing more well-trained psychiatric professionals to serve our communities.”

A $600,000 investment in a Shared Health recruitment program that encourages psychiatrists to practise in acute-care facilities in under-served areas of the province was also announced Tuesday.

Mental-health and wellness training for primary health-care providers will also receive a funding boost. The Extension of Community Health Outcomes program, which offers mentoring and community-based care programming for local clinicians, will be receiving $481,000 to train facilitators, increase enrolment and evaluate the program.

“We need to remove the stigma surrounding mental-health issues and become a society that encourages friends, families and colleagues to seek help when they need it,” said Smith. “This also means making mental-health care accessible and ensuring resources are there when people need them.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca