Thirty-five health-care workers recruited from the former provincial government’s trip to the Philippines are in Manitoba, a provincial spokesperson tells Global News.
The February 2023 trip aimed to bring 300 registered nurses (RN), licensed practical nurses (LPN), and health-care aides to Manitoba. 348 candidates received letters of intent, and the province announced in July 2023 that over 300 had accepted job offers in Manitoba.
In a statement to Global News, the provincial spokesperson said an additional eight health-care workers recruited during the trip are to arrive in Manitoba later this month, and will commence work “shortly thereafter.” Travel arrangements are being made for 49 more, the statement said, and their arrival dates “will vary based on the candidate and their family’s availability to travel.”
“These individuals will be working as nurses or health-care aides, depending on their current clinical competency,” the spokesperson’s statement read.
The former PC government also pledged in July 2023 to recruit 150 family physicians, with the goal of 50 each for Winnipeg, northern Manitoba, and rural communities. They also removed a requirement that internationally educated physicians hold a licentiate from the Medical Council of Canada, in order to speed up the accreditation process. The province hired Canadian Health Labs to recruit the doctors.
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According to an Oct. 2023 Doctors Manitoba report, with data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Manitoba has the second-lowest number of physicians per capita in the country, at 215 per 100,000 residents. The report also found 51 per cent of Manitoba’s doctors plan to retire, reduce their hours, or move out of province in the next three years.
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The shortage has been felt in rural communities like Carberry, where a physician and health-care worker shortage forced the closure of their emergency department last year.
“When you are a community that’s used to having doctors for decades, and all of a sudden, you’re without a doctor or an emergency department, it hits you hard,” said Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead.
Muirhead says he’s met with Premier Wab Kinew and Prairie Mountain Health several times in efforts to recruit a doctor for the town of roughly 1,800 people. He says they’ve found an internationally-educated doctor keen on moving to Carberry, but meeting licensing and immigration requirements has been a lengthy process.
“We’re working actively, feverishly, to try to get doctors in Carberry, but we seem to be at some point hitting a brick wall,” Muirhead said. “It’s getting really old, really fast with our community.”
Randy Lints, Mayor of Hamiota Municipality, says his community is also short doctors. According to Prairie Mountain Health’s website, the Hamiota Health Centre’s emergency department was closed five of seven days this week.
“It’s not a question of going to a community that’s only 20 minutes away anymore, because chances are they don’t have an ER either,” Lints said.
He says his community has also been in contact with health leaders and government, and while they’re fortunate to have some health-care workers, they are overworked.
“Health care is no longer just a provincial and federal jurisdiction anymore. Municipalities are getting involved more all the time,” he said. “And that’s the way it has to be if you’re wanting to move your community forward or make sure that you’re not the next one on the chopping block.”
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