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Doctors Manitoba is urging Manitobans to plan ahead for potential emergency room closures in rural and northern areas during the holiday season. The province’s rural health-care system is facing significant instability, with only a quarter of hospitals maintaining 24/7 ER operations in December.
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“As Manitobans travel across the province and gather with family this holiday season, we need them to know that only a quarter of hospitals in rural and northern Manitoba will have their ERs reliably open 24/7 this month,” said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president-elect of Doctors Manitoba.
A review of emergency room schedules across the province found:
17 hospital ERs will be open 24/7
24 ERs will have limited hours or frequent closures
29 health centre ERs will be fully closed
Desilets is concerned the situation is worsening.
“What’s really concerning is the number of ERs that are open 24/7 is getting worse, not better,” she said, noting that last year, two more ERs were reliably open than this December.
The shortage of staff is particularly severe in larger rural facilities, such as Brandon and Boundary Trails hospitals, where critical services like the ER and obstetrics often face unfilled shifts and depend on help from other regions.
“Practising medicine in rural Manitoba is a rewarding experience,” said Dr. Desilets, a physician in Neepawa. “But severe staffing shortages are making it difficult to maintain services in many hospitals right now.”
To help Manitobans navigate the upcoming holiday season, Doctors Manitoba has launched ruralcare.ca, a resource providing local ER schedules, advice on medical emergencies, and tips on how to plan ahead in areas with unreliable ER hours.
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