Today, physicians listened carefully to the throne speech today to hear the Stefanson government’s agenda. 

We agree that this is the biggest health care crisis Manitobans have ever faced. But given this, Doctors Manitoba is concerned about the lack of specifics and urgency. 

On the one hand, the speech was very specific about hiring 20 more nurses in the North. This is good news for the North.

However, there were few specifics about how the government will clear the staggering backlog of over 136,000 surgical and diagnostic procedures.

We’re encouraged to hear the government will form an inclusive task force with doctors and nurses, but we’re very concerned the government will be taking action ​“in the coming weeks” and not ​“the coming days.”

Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity today, however, is not making a bold commitment to set a target date to clear the backlog, as was done in BC. 

Manitobans caught in this massive backlog need hope. They need to see action. They need to know help is on the way, but today they were left waiting again.

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Doctors Manitoba now maintains a monthly dashboard to monitor the backlog, found at Doc​tors​Man​i​to​ba​.ca/​b​a​cklog