The Manitoba government said “initial work” is underway on fulfilling campaign promises to build a new emergency room and Victoria General Hospital and open a new Mature Women’s Centre there.
Funding for both capital projects were included in the NDP government’s first budget, which was presented earlier this month.
The hospital’s emergency room and the women’s centre were both closed as part of health-care restructuring by the Progressive Conservative government in 2017.
“I know it’s been a long journey. I can only imagine what it’s been like working at the Vic, through the successive changes and the challenges that you’ve had to live with,” Premier Wab Kinew, referring to longtime staff members, said at a news conference outside the hospital Wednesday.
Construction of the new emergency room is expected to begin within two years, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said.
“Today marks the beginning of a first phase in getting this project done,” they said, calling it “a very ambitious timeline.”
The budget also included funds for the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre, a women-only addictions treatment centre that will be built at the hospital site.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca