Manitoba adds 873 health workers in 5 months

The Manitoba government says it’s getting close to hitting its goal of hiring 1,000 new health workers this year.

Wab Kinew’s NDP made the commitment in its first budget in April.

Now the province says it’s nearly There, with 873 health workers added between April 1 and Aug. 31. That includes 116 doctors, 304 nurses, 290 health-care aides and 61 residents, the NDP says.

“We made an ambitious promise to add 1,000 net new people into our system and today we’re proud to say we’re more than halfway to that goal,” Kinew said in a news release.

“We’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to adding more staff into the system and we’re going to keep going so we can start to turn the corner on some of the most important priorities in health care,” added Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. “To every person who decided to pursue a career in health care, or came back to the system, thank you.”

Kinew says the results are thanks to government investment in retaining, recruiting and training more health-care workers.

While Doctors Manitoba called the net increase in physicians “a step in the right direction towards addressing our doctor shortage,” the group warned partial year reporting of figures can be misleading.

“(It) does not capture the cyclical ebbs and flows seen over a full year with physician licensure, with graduating residents obtaining their full license early in the summer and existing physicians leaving practice seeing their licenses expire later the fall,” the group wrote in a news release.

“While it’s possible the number may shrink after that cycle is complete, the Doctors Manitoba analysis is confident the trend will continue to show growth in the number of doctors practicing in Manitoba.”

FROM APRIL: Is hiring 100 doctors in Manitoba realistic?

A Canadian Institute for Health Information analysis last fall showed Manitoba would need 445 additional doctors just to reach the national average.