The Manitoba government has nearly reached its goal of hiring 1,000 new health-care workers included in this year’s budget.
Premier Wab Kinew and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara made the announcement at a news conference at Grace Hospital on Thursday afternoon.
“Manitobans told us clearly they want more nurses, doctors and health-care professionals working in our province,” Kinew said in a news release.
“We made an ambitious promise to add 1,000 net new people into our system, and today we’re proud to say we’re more than halfway to that goal.”
He said the NDP government is making progress on a commitment to hire hundreds of people in specific professions over its four-year term. From April 1 to Aug. 31, 873 net new health-care workers have been added, including 116 doctors, 304 nurses and 290 health-care aides.
“We’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to adding more staff into the system, and we’re going to keep going so we can start to turn the corner on some of the most important priorities in health care,” Asagwara said in the release.
Tiana Wyryha, a newly graduated nurse working in the children’s emergency department at Health Sciences Centre, also spoke at the news conference.
“Growing up watching my mom work as a nurse for over 36 years guided me to this profession that I am so fortunate to be a part of,” she said in the release.
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