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Health-care delays leading to issues for Manitobans: doctor

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WINNIPEG -

New numbers from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) show thousands of deaths are likely due to a backlog in the health-care system, and experts warn more could come if changes aren’t made soon.

In an effort to keep ICU capacity open during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Manitoba government has had to redeploy health-care professionals from other care areas -- a move that’s had tough consequences.

"This year we will do 35,000 fewer operations than done in the same period prior to the pandemic,” said Dr. Eric Jacobsohn, who works in critical care and anesthesiology.

“That’s a staggering number for a small population."

The newly released report from the CMA said 4,000 patients likely died in just a five-month span during the first year of the pandemic because their care was delayed.

The report also cited long wait times and backlogged surgeries.

This is a problem Jacobsohn has seen firsthand in the province.

"People are dying on waiting lists. Their cancer or heart condition deteriorates and when we see them come in the operating room they are much, much sicker,’ he said.

“[They're] spending more time in intensive care afterwards because their risk before the surgery is so much higher."

The CMA report found that in early 2021, there were up to 20 deaths per day in Canada related to opioid use.

It also found wait times during the pandemic for procedures like breast cancer surgery averaged at least 46 days, with hip replacement surgery averaging 118 days.

"It's going to be more difficult going forward to refer to them as unintended consequences,” said Dr. Dan Roberts, who works in critical care.

“We know about them now and we have to plan for them."

To solve the backlog, Jacobsohn said frontline staff need to be engaged.

"It may be public-private collaboration to be able to make the clinic space, the operating space, but it's going to take a real creative, out of the box thinking," he said.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon said on Tuesday that she wants there to be “robust” reporting regarding how Manitobans will receive the surgeries and diagnostic tests they need.

“I certainly don’t want to rush something that is very important to Manitobans in terms of giving them a very fulsome view of what we plan to do achieve the goals of this task force,” she said.

Gordon said more information on the surgical backlog task force could be announced this week.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Health and Seniors Care told CTV News Winnipeg the province is actively working on the backlog.

They said the province has contracted organizations and partners to perform over 11,000 additional procedures.

Even with added surgeries, there is still a staffing issue to address, said Jacobsohn.

"The various groups involved in health-care have basically been taxed to the nth degree. The redeployments have had a huge impact,” Jacobsohn said.

As for immediate solutions, the doctors and the province said vaccination is the best way to reduce the strain.

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