Province accused of dragging feet on health care deal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2020 (2179 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Liberal leader is criticizing the province for delaying investment in women’s health care.

Manitoba could have used federal funding to offer a counselling program for grieving mothers much earlier, instead of starting the process just three weeks ago, Dougald Lamont said Wednesday.

On Aug. 10, a request for proposal was issued to start a provincewide pregnancy and infant loss program, aimed at offering grief counselling for families who suffered miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths.

The public tender process closes Sept. 10. In response to Free Press inquiries, representatives for Shared Health said they couldn’t answer questions about the program while the process is ongoing.

The program was promised as part of a 2017 health accord with Ottawa worth $400 million over 10 years. Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen signed the agreement in March 2019.

This week, the Liberals said the RFP was only issued after the party sought data about the program — and learned it didn’t exist. In late July, the Liberals put in a freedom of information request asking for figures on how much funding was devoted to the program and how many clients it had served, only to be told the program hadn’t started.

Lamont said he has been frustrated by what he described as the provincial government dragging its feet on entering into agreements with Ottawa and waiting for federal funding to flow to Manitoba. This is one example, he said, of an “ongoing issue.”

“It’s an across-the-board problem where, for whatever reason, the federal government is standing there with chequebook in hand, offering hundreds of millions of dollars to the province of Manitoba for things that are desperately needed — like mental health care for women who’ve experienced loss — and it’s just not a priority,” Lamont said.

“Women’s health has not been a priority for this government.”

In response to questions from the Free Press about the Liberals’ concerns, Friesen’s office issued an emailed statement.

“Our government has worked hard since taking office and have made extensive changes to modernize mental health and addictions services in Manitoba. In just the past 11 months, we have announced over $40 million in mental health initiatives, many of which are aimed at helping women. This includes investing $2.4 million expanding services at Klinic Community Health Centre and Laurel Centre, including walk-in mental health services and specialized trauma counselling,” the statement says

“This is an important mental health initiative. We look forward to sharing more details of our plan following the successful conclusion of the RFP process.”

Meanwhile, Lamont said the government has not explained why it has not invested sooner in health-care programs when federal funding is available.

“They’ve never been able to explain why they’ve taken so long,” he said.

 

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay