Manitoba speeds up process for international pharmacists to work here

Manitoba wants to attract more qualified pharmacists from outside Canada by making it easier for them to practise here, the health minister said Friday.

A new streamlined registration and licensure pathway to remove unnecessary barriers for qualified health professionals took effect in December.

“We’ve been working with our partners to make sure that we have an expedited and clear pathway for pharmacists,” Asagwara said. “They are a big part of our primary care teams.”

They are often the most accessible health-care providers in rural and underserved communities, they said.

Previously, internationally trained pharmacists went through an application process that took approximately four and a half years. The new process is anticipated to reduce that timeline to about 75 days, which will allow qualified professionals to practise more quickly, the government said in a news release.

Eligible jurisdictions include the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland. Applicants must be in good standing, meet recent practice requirements, complete a Manitoba jurisprudence exam and undertake a supervised practice period to support a safe and effective transition into Manitoba’s health care system, the release said.

Since the new process was introduced, three internationally trained applicants, including one from the U.S., are advancing through it.

“This expedited pathway helps ensure Manitobans can receive timely, continuous pharmacy care by allowing qualified internationally trained pharmacists from select jurisdictions to enter practice sooner, while still meeting Manitoba’s high regulatory standards,” College of Pharmacists of Manitoba registrar and CEO Kevin Hamilton said in the release.

Pharmacists Manitoba released a statement late in the evening that said it has urged the government to change course on policies it said drive pharmacists out of the province. About 1,700 pharmacists work in Manitoba.

“We have shared data with the minister showing that about 60 per cent of the highly trained Doctor of Pharmacy graduates from the University of Manitoba intend to leave,” the statement said.

“Pharmacists are leaving Manitoba because it has the most limited scope of practice compared to any other province in Canada and the worst remuneration.”

The advocacy organization said Manitoba lags behind other provinces. For example, pharmacists cannot help patients in all the ways they are trained to.

“Imagine how much Manitobans would benefit if the government could keep the pharmacists it trained and allowed them to care for people in all the ways they know how?” the statement said.

The president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals welcomed Friday’s news and said more pharmacists are desperately needed.

“The hospital-based pharmacists MAHCP represents in Winnipeg and northern Manitoba are understaffed and stretched thin due to growing patient loads,” Jason Linklater said in an email.

“The province needs to add more hospital-based pharmacist positions to keep up with demand, and make sure those positions are filled,” he said, adding that any measure to bolster the complement of pharmacists and other allied health professionals is welcome.

“Government should also be focused on creating environments where those pharmacists want to work.”

Expanding Manitoba’s pharmacy workforce means better access to services, more time for patient care and stronger continuity of care, Asagwara said.

To pharmacists working outside Canada, Manitoba offers an opportunity to practise in a publicly funded system that supports equitable access to care, where patients receive care based on need — a core Canadian health care value, the minister said.

“I personally have heard from, at this point, dozens of health-care workers and researchers from Minnesota who want to come to Manitoba and want to come to Manitoba quickly,” said Asagwara. “We are doing our very best to respond to each and every person who reaches out, and finding the fastest and most streamlined way for them to join the front lines of our health-care system.”

Asagwara said any time the government announces recruitment measures, it receives interest from American practitioners.

In 2025, 51 pharmacists who had been educated in the United States became licensed to practise in Manitoba.

“We need to make sure that we are trying a number of ways to reach people because you never know how someone’s going to hear the good news about what Manitoba has to offer,” Asagwara said.

Kathleen Cook, the critic for the opposition Tories, said measures to attract health providers to the province are welcome, but more must be done to retain them

“The NDP has failed to introduce any significant changes that would broaden pharmacists’ scope of practice in Manitoba to better align with what pharmacists in other provinces can do. Not only would that improve access to care for Manitobans, it would help with retention of Manitoba pharmacists.”

— With files from Tyler Searle

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca