Winnipeg eye doctors are asking the province to reverse its decision to close the urgent care centre at Misericordia. The hospital that also houses the Eye Care Centre of Excellence.
The Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (EPSOM) penned an open letter to the Winnipeg Regional Health Centre and Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen on Monday. In the letter, the doctors said their patients are “expressing great anxiety and concern about where they should go if they have an ocular emergency.”
EPSOM Chair, Dr. Jennifer Rahman said the urgent care centre receives 39,000 patient visits per year and “over 4,500 are eye emergencies”.
In April, the province announced it was shutting down Misericordia Health Centre’s 24/7 urgent-care department and turning it into a community intravenous therapy clinic.
Three of Winnipeg’s six emergency rooms are also closing, which the government says will help improve patient care and reduce hospital wait times. Concordia Hospital, Victoria General Hospital and Seven Oaks General Hospital will no longer have emergency departments.
READ MORE: Closing Winnipeg’s Misericordia urgent care will cost system more, doctors say
Rahman called the decision to close the urgent care department a “step backwards”.
“If this place were to close then we wouldn’t have adequate medical assistance on an urgent basis for our patients who are coming for eye clinic visits and surgeries,” Rahman said. “We depend on the urgent care to help us with medical assistance with our in patients and out patients.”
Rahman said if a patient has to be transferred to another facility, they’ll be delayed in being assessed which could result in vision loss.
“The future of eye care services in Manitoba is at dire risk without the support and presence of an active Urgent Care at Misericordia Health Centre,” the letter said.
The EPSOM letter comes only a week after more than 20 doctors working at Misericordia Health Centre wrote a letter to the province asking to keep the urgent care centre open.
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