The province says it will lower the age for breast-cancer screening to 40 by December 2026.
“We want more women in our province to hear those four important words: ‘You are cancer free,’” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said at a hastily called news conference at the Manitoba Legislative Building late Thursday morning.
Inside the chamber, other MLAs were debating a Progressive Conservative private member’s bill calling for the government to lower the age for breast-cancer screening self-referrals from 50 to 40. Tory health critic Kathleen Cook’s bill received second reading.
The health minister said the decision to lower the age to 40 had nothing to do with the PC bill and that it had been in the works for months.
“We’ve previously already committed to lowering the age to 45 by the end of next year,” Asagwara said. “This is a really aggressive timeline to get to 40, but we know that this is an important timeline for women across this province.”
The health minister said the NDP government has been working on the initiative in partnership with CancerCare “for many months.”
Cook’s Bill 221 would require the health minister to develop and implement a plan to lower the initial eligibility age for routine breast-cancer screening services without a referral from 50 years to 40 years by no later than Dec. 31, 2026.
Asagwara applauded the advocacy of those who have been pushing for increased breast-cancer screening, saying services were decreased by the former PC government. An additional 13 mammography technologists will be required to meet the increased demand for screening as the age for self referral is lowered to 45 by the end of next year then 40 the year after, the minister said.
Cook is expected to respond the government’s announcement this afternoon.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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