Manitoba’s health minister wouldn’t reveal Thursday how many contracts with private and public surgical clinics have been extended, as part of the push to cut wait times.
Instead, Uzoma Asagwara promised details will be rolled out soon.
“That news is going to be shared with Manitobans in the coming days and weeks, and I look forward to sharing more news about the investments that we’re making to improve surgical capacity.”
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara: “I look forward to sharing more news about the investments that we’re making to improve surgical capacity.”
On Wednesday, the minister said the contract with Maples Surgical Centre, a private clinic in Winnipeg, to provide expanded orthopedic surgery slates, would be extended. It was set to expire March 31.
When asked for details Thursday about which agreements are being extended and which surgical services are affected, the minister said the clinics are “actively getting that information” and need time to receive it before it is publicly disclosed.
Some details about renewals of agreements could not be shared prior to the provincial budget being introduced on Tuesday, Asagwara said.
The Tories had pressed the government to explain the status of such agreements during question period Wednesday.
A request for comment from Clearpoint Health Network, which runs the Maples clinic, was unanswered Thursday.
The NDP campaigned on a promise to reduce private contracts and build health-care capacity at home. Once in government, it disbanded a task force, appointed by the Progressive Conservatives, whose goal was to cut pandemic backlogs.
The task force had negotiated out-of-province contracts as well as agreements with Manitoba clinics and hospitals — including Maples Surgical Centre, Pan Am Clinic and local hospitals. The agreements were aimed at increasing surgical capacity.
The minister didn’t say whether there has been any disruption to any of those existing agreements, or whether eligible patients still have the same level of service.
Instead, the minister said the task force’s approach “was incredibly disruptive across the system,” and that patients will benefit from having access to surgeries in Manitoba.
The Tories say the health-care budget lacks short-term measures to cut the surgery backlog.
During question period Wednesday, Premier Wab Kinew responded to Tory criticism by hinting at an upcoming announcement involving the former chairman of the task force steering committee, Dr. Peter Macdonald.
The government hasn’t provided any details on that.
Patients in all provinces, including Manitoba, wait longer for hip and knee replacements than they did before the pandemic, even though surgical volumes for those procedures have since increased, as per new data released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Only 49 per cent of knee replacements and 59 per cent of hip replacements in Manitoba last year were completed within national benchmark time frames of about 182 days, the newly released 2023 data shows. That’s below the national average.
Cataract surgeries were completed within the benchmark time frame (112 days) 63 per cent of the time. Manitoba did better with timely radiation therapy (100 per cent completed within benchmark time) and inpatient hip fracture repairs (89 per cent).
katie.may@freepress.mb.ca
