The province is working to reschedule cataract surgeries after a contracted private service provider postponed scheduled procedures, sparking concerns among patients.
“We have met and spoken with every single one of those patients who have concerns to make sure that they are going to get their surgeries in a timely manner,” Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday.
Asagwara said the government followed up “immediately” with Vision Group, the company responsible for performing the procedures.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the province is working to reschedule cataract surgeries after a private service provider postponed scheduled procedures.
The minister chalked up the issue to a “scheduling issue on the end of the vendor” and said “hundreds of surgeries have not been postponed,” contrary to media reports.
A spokesperson with the premier’s office wasn’t certain how many people have been affected, and deferred to Vision Group.
Vision Group, which has clinics in Winnipeg, said in a statement more than 7,000 cataract surgeries have been performed.
“We are currently in discussions with the (health department) to get a better understanding of their future plans.
“We believe we can continue to deliver on the government’s goal of providing timely access to the care and services patients deserve. We welcome the opportunity to further collaborate to support patients in Manitoba.”
The former Progressive Conservative government signed service contracts with private providers in 2021 to tackle a backlog of surgeries. One of those agreements was with Vision Group, which touts itself online as “the largest provider of publicly funded cataract surgeries in Canada.”
The Tories funded more than 5,000 cataract surgeries with Vision Group in 2023. This year, 1,250 are scheduled to be conducted, of which only 775 have been completed.
PC health critic Kathleen Cook said a pandemic-era backlog of cataract surgeries was cleared through “dozens” of private-public partnerships that opened capacity for “tens of thousands of procedures.”
Cook said she has continually called on the NDP government to be transparent about what agreements have been cancelled or altered with private clinics.
“But they have so far refused to do so,” she said in a statement.
Cook suggested changes and cancellations to those agreements would cause delays for “hundreds of Manitobans.”
“The NDP should immediately reinstate all agreements with private clinics that expanded capacity for Manitoba patients, like the agreement with Vision Group that expanded cataract services,” Cook added, accusing the NDP of prioritizing “ideological politics over patients.”
Asagwara told reporters the province has not discontinued its agreement with Vision Group, and will ensure “Manitobans get the cataract surgeries that they need.”
“Bumps in the road” are part of evolving contracts, Asagwara said, adding the government is spreading surgeries among “various private clinics that we have partnerships with, and in the public system.”
The health minister said the NDP is working on a sustainable, long-term plan to bring consistency and improved capacity for surgeries.
As per the province’s wait times dashboard, which does not factor wait times at private facilities, 3,631 Manitobans were waiting for cataract surgeries as of April, and 5,070 surgeries had been completed.
jordan.snobelen@freepress.mb.ca