Manitoba recruits record number of new doctors, but struggles to keep them: Doctors Manitoba

Manitoba is recruiting new doctors, but is struggling to keep them. That’s the finding of a new Doctors Manitoba report, which shows a record-breaking net increase of 164 doctors last year.

“It’s been an exciting two years. We’ve had two record years of increase in physician numbers here in Manitoba, which means we’re getting closer to finding a family doctor for every Manitoban and shortening wait times for specialized services like diagnostics and surgeries,” said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba.

But the province is still 246 doctors away from meeting the national average of doctors per 100,000 people. Dr. Desilets says she’s also looking at where the new doctors are going.

“They’re not equally distributed between urban and rural, and certainly not equally distributed amongst specialties in need. So what I’m hearing from my colleagues is, ‘that’s great, there’s a lot more doctors this year. But where are they?'” said Dr. Desilets.

The report also showed 710 physicians, 21 per cent of all doctors, are considering leaving in the next three years.

“There may have been some people who have become disillusioned and disappointed from working in an environment where they’re ultimately responsible for patient care and patient outcomes, but they’re working in a system where they can’t control factors that are impacting the patients’ care,” said Dr. Desilets.

“For example, access to medical transportation, access to diagnostic imaging, not being able to make a difference on a surgical waitlist for their patients. So there’s a lot of frustration.”

Dr. Desilets says doctors need to be engaged to help with retention, especially as 40 per cent of student doctors in the province plan to leave upon graduation or are undecided on their plans.