WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba government is investing more than $800 million into creating, expanding and renovating health-care facilities in the province.
Premier Brian Pallister and Lanette Siragusa, Manitoba’s chief nursing officer, announced the funding on Monday in Brandon, Man., saying the estimated $812 million will go to about 38 projects.
The province said these projects will create the foundation for Manitoba’s Provincial Clinical Network, which is a system of health-care services aimed at improving access, enhancing quality and reliability of care, shortening wait times, and reducing the need for Manitobans to travel long distances for care.
“We know that we can do better for Manitoba patients,” Siragusa said.
“We know that we can improve services for people who live in rural, northern and remote communities, so that your access to health-care services are not just reliant on where you live.”
Monday’s announcement includes about $70 million to improve health services in Brandon, and establishing the Brandon Regional Health Centre (BRHC) as a hub of specialized services. The $70 million will go towards the expansion and renovation of clinical spaces within the BRHC, and enhancing cancer services at the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre.
The renovations and expansions at the BRHC will include about 30 new medicine beds; a new ICU with additional staffed adult beds; and a renovated and expanded neonatal intensive care unit.
The improvements to the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre include an anticipated 700,000-square-foot expansion; renovations of existing spaces including additional exam rooms and treatment spaces; and a new medical linear accelerator.
“I am confident that investing in health-care services in communities throughout Manitoba will not only improve the physical health and well-being of Manitobans…but will improve their mental health as well by reducing the degree of stress inherent in having health issues,” Pallister said.
Construction on the projects in Brandon will begin in 2022 and is scheduled to be finished by the summer of 2025. More details on other projects will be announced in the coming weeks.
REACTION
In a statement, NDP healthcare critic Uzoma Asagwara said Manitobans need improved access to healthcare, but shouldn't trust the PC government to deliver it.
Asagwara noted the province made cuts to health capital spending in 2017, adding that five years of cuts to hospitals have resulted in Manitobans waiting hours for care in the ER, with many are also waiting for surgery.
“Manitobans will never forget that PC cuts to ICU beds forced us to send our sickest patients out of province for care during the third wave,” Asagwara said.
“The PCs need to increase staffing and capacity across the province today to improve outcomes and equity for all Manitobans."
Dougald Lamont, Manitoba’s Liberal Leader, said the province is currently facing a healthcare crisis, a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the worst backlog of surgeries in the country.
He noted Manitobans shouldn’t forget how the healthcare system was impacted during the third wave.
“Our critical care hospitals ran out of room to care for Manitobans, and we had to rely on other provinces to keep people alive. No province has a worse track record, and our health system has not recovered,” Lamont said.
“Instead of dealing with a current crisis, Pallister and the PCs are relying on a 2019 plan that pretends the pandemic never happened. Manitoba desperately needs modelling for the Delta Variant, a plan to deal with the fourth wave, and to clear the surgery backlog.”
Lamont said the province needs to invest in people, not just infrastructure.
Manitoba investing more than $800M into health-care facilities - CTV News Winnipeg
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