Manitoba making changes to health cards

Manitoba is making changes to health cards as its population grows.

Manitoba Health says one character of the six-character family registration code on new cards will be a letter instead of a number.

The government department says the change is to ensure enough new numbers are available as the province's population grows.

It says the nine-digit number for individuals will not change.

Manitoba Health says health-care providers and other sites that need to register health cards have been told about the change so they can adjust their systems.

Manitoba Health also says it has worked to reduce processing times for people who need new or replacement health cards.

"The backlog created by the pandemic is now eliminated and most new application requests are handled within a four-week window," the department said in a statement Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2023.