Manitoba doctors want action to deal with surgery backlog: report
Doctors in Manitoba are asking for action to address the surgery and diagnostic test backlog created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new report done by Doctors Manitoba, released Thursday, estimates the backlog includes more than 110,000 procedures.
The report says that total includes surgeries, some of which are serious and life-saving.
Other procedures that are affected include MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, endoscopies, mammograms, and allergy tests.
The group is asking for the province to commit to a fixed date to address the backlog, create a task force to oversee the issue, and publicly report the size of the backlog monthly.
One of the largest barriers, according to about 1000 doctors surveyed, is a nursing shortage.
On March 31, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister announced the province would invest at least $50 million to reduce wait times for procedures delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of Budget 2021.
Uzoma Asagwara, NDP Critic for Healthcare, responded to the report with a written statement that said the pandemic has put Manitobans healthcare on hold.
"It's shocking and reckless that fifteen months into the pandemic the government still doesn't have a plan to address the 110,000 plus backlog for surgeries and tests, many of which are serious and life saving,” the statement reads.
“After years of PC healthcare cuts, it's clear we don't have the capacity to address this backlog. It will take years to fix the damage the PCs have caused to the health system.”
Asagwara goes onto write that the government needs act now and work with frontline healthcare staff, hire more nurses, be transparent about the data by publishing regular reports on surgery backlogs and set a date for when the backlog will be cleared.
The full report can be read below.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.