Does Manitoba have enough doctors? Tories, NDP spar over numbers
The Tories are criticizing the province for what it believes is a significant doctor shortage problem in rural Manitoba communities – something the province's health minister disputes.
“Manitobans need access to health care and if they have no doctors in communities they have no access to health care,” health critic Myrna Driedger said in a release Wednesday.
“The NDP has failed rural Manitobans. It doesn’t appear to have any idea how to address the problem so is choosing to ignore it.”
Sandra Shelvey seems to suit the Tory narrative.
Shelvey said she is forced to go to walk-in clinics to receive care for her and her six-month-old grandson. She said she has been looking for a family doctor for almost a year since she moved back to Winnipeg from B.C.
"No one is accepting any new patients right now, even my grandson, he's newborn,” said Shelvey. “We were looking for a pediatrician and they said no one is accepting new patients."
Still, her chances of finding a doctor are better than outside Winnipeg.
Rural vacancies
The Tories said many of the doctors who are leaving the province aren't being replaced fast enough.
In 2011, the NDP government promised to make sure every Manitoban who wanted a doctor would have one by 2015.
"We've got a revolving door of doctors that is not good for health care," said Driedger. "So for a government that's promised to fix this, they're certainly going in the wrong direction."
The Progressive Conservatives maintain that information obtained through a freedom of information request shows there are currently 15 vacancies for doctors in Manitoba’s northern region. Another 30 positions are vacant in the eastern part of the Interlake, while the Prairie Mountain health region has 40 openings, according to the opposition.
Gains made, says province
A provincial government spokesperson told CBC News that Manitoba Health's Family Doctor Finder has matched 23,000 people with a physician or nurse practitioner since it began as a pilot project in July 2013. It has also helped almost 4,000 people change providers.
In all, the Family Doctor Finder has matched about 95 per cent of registered clients who did not have a provider at the time of registration, according to the province.
"The number of people in queue for a provider is very fluid, as registrants are being matched daily, with over 50 per cent actually being matched within a day or so of registration," the spokesperson wrote in an email.
"Currently, there are approximately 600 people without a doctor considered to be waiting for a match, with just over 200 people still looking to change providers."
The province noted that it can take more time to be matched to a family doctor in areas with limited capacity, if a client is difficult to reach, or if the client has complex health needs.
Tory comments 'misleading': Health minister
Sharon Blady, the province’s health minister, said numbers released by the PCs on doctor shortages are “misleading” and “frustrating.”
"It's frustrating and that it can be really misleading," said Blady. "We're doing better and that's according to independent numbers. Now, is there more work to do? Absolutely."
Blady said Manitoba is retaining more doctors currently than in previous years.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons reported Manitoba it has seen an increase in the amount of doctors in rural areas, from 546 in 2005 to 627 in 2014.
Blady said the province plans to make sure every Manitoban has a doctor by the end of 2015, as promised by the NDP in 2011.
