Manitoba is earmarking 9.2 per cent more funding for health care in 2023 compared with last year but Doctors Manitoba is disappointed that Tuesday’s proposed budget doesn’t do more to tackle the province’s physician shortage.
“One hundred and fifty thousand Manitobans without a family doctor, people waiting unreasonably long, wait times in emergency. A lot of these things you can keep drawing back to the same problem and that problem is that we don’t have enough physicians,” said Dr. Candace Bradshaw, president of Doctors Manitoba.
The province called the investment of $7.9 billion the “largest ever” and said it would be used toward shortening wait times and rebuilding the front lines.
When asked about the physician shortage, Premier Heather Stefanson said the money will be used to recruit and retain doctors.
“We know that health and human resources is a significant challenge, not just here in Manitoba, but across the country and that will be a priority for us moving forward.
“Those dollars, part of that will go towards the recruitment, retention and training of family docs as well as other docs and other health-care professionals as well.”
A report from October of last year shows Manitoba has the third-lowest number of physicians per capita in the country, clocking in at 216 doctors per 100,000 residents.
“There’s a huge vacancy of physicians in the area of the province that I work in.” said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, a physician in Neepawa.
“There’s just only so many hours in the day and so much of us to go around and we’re struggling to keep up.”
While the premier said this will be addressed, Doctors Manitoba said its confidence is shaken as the government made some pretty big announcements with the Health Human Resource Plan in November 2022 and had several recommendations that were promised to be acted on. it is still waiting to see those being put into action.
“Top of that list would be support for clinics right now and supporting practices, physicians that are practising right now,” said Bradshaw.
“We still have not received any support for things like PPE (personal protective equipment) or added costs for extra cleaning in the clinic.
“We had 20 recommendations in our Rural Health Summit last September, which only four of those have been acted on.”
‘We recognize more work needs to be done’
Global News reached out for comment from Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon and instead got an emailed statement from a government spokesperson.
The spokesperson did not answer questions about why more funding hasn’t been allocated for doctor recruitment and retention and why more of Doctors Manitoba’s recommended initiatives haven’t been started.
The spokesperson instead pointed to promises made in the government’s recently announced health human resource action plan including a pledge to add 80 physician training seats and a $450,000 contribution to Doctors Manitoba’s Physician Peer Support Program.
“We recognize more work needs to be done,” the spokesperson said.
“We look forward to providing additional Health Human Action Plan updates that will retain, train, and recruit Manitoba doctors soon.”
Bradshaw said Manitoba does not currently have a physician recruiter who can take a physician and their family around the province and visit a few sites, have them arrange to meet the physicians in other areas and sit down and talk about what life is like in a certain community.
“We don’t have dedicated recruiters. We don’t have anyone to organize bringing these physicians out.”
Physician recruitment and retention funding was cut by $1.6 million in 2017 and it has never recovered, she added.
“It’s been frozen, it’s been flat and it appears today we’re still in the same boat.”
What Doctors Manitoba would like to see from the government now is more urgency and action toward the matter.
“The fact that recommendations were made four months ago and promises were made four months ago in November, and I still sit here with holes in a checklist that should be checked by now is not acceptable,” Bradshaw said.
— with files from Global’s Rosanna Hempel
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