New data shows Manitoba’s doctor shortage has only gotten worse while the number of new hires needed to bridge the gap keeps growing.
An annual report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows Manitoba has 215 doctors per 100,000 residents, the second lowest rate in the country and well below the national average of 247.
Only Prince Edward Island has a lower number of doctors per capita.
When it comes to family physicians, Manitoba had the lowest number per capita in the country in 2022, with just 111 per 100,000 residents.
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The province would now need to add 445 more physicians to reach the national average, up from 405 last year, the CIHI data shows.
While that may be a difficult target to reach, Doctors Manitoba president Michael Boroditsky says the province needs to add more doctors to the system — period.
“Whether it’s 400 or 445 …. it just needs to be more,” he said at a Monday news conference about the data.
Retention concerns
Manitoba is also facing a serious retention problem.
Doctors Manitoba’s most recent survey of its membership in February found that more than half of existing physicians – 51 per cent — planned on either retiring, leaving the province or cutting back their hours in the next three years.
That’s an increase of eight percentage points from the same time last year.
Boroditsky said the number of doctors per capita hasn’t kept pace with Manitoba’s growing population over time, and doctors are finding it harder and harder to cope with increasing workloads.
“We’re appreciating that we can’t go on the way we have before. We can’t just stiff upper lip anymore,” he said.
The Doctors Manitoba president said there are reasons to be optimistic, however.
So far there has been positive feedback about the new physician services agreement, which covers physician pay and funds to operate their medical practices, that was reached with the provincial government this summer, he said.
“We are hearing preliminary feedback from our members of, ‘this thing is a game changer for me. This makes a difference’,” he said.
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Boroditsky said the organization is also hopeful the new NDP government will make good on its promises to fix health care, which include new recruitment incentives, expanding team-based care, and a pledge to recruit at least 400 more doctors within five years.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Monday that this latest data shows the need to address health-care staff shortages is more urgent than ever.
He said the target of 400 new physicians announced during the provincial election campaign hasn’t changed.
“Let’s hit 400 before we get to 445, would be my overarching thought.”
PC health critic Kathleen Cook said the NDP has made a lot of promises when it comes to fixing health care, but will need to show Manitobans some concrete action, and fast.
“I think they made a lot of commitments during the campaign, but so far have been pretty short on the critical details of how they’re going to achieve that.”
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