NDP, Liberals unveil health platforms

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This article was published 29/07/2023 (1040 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The future of health care in the Wheat City is part of both Manitoba’s opposition parties’ political platforms.

Rural students will benefit from a new training centre that will be built in Winnipeg, said Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who promised an $80-million to $150-million expansion of the University of Manitoba (U of M) for medical students.

Kinew said construction of a new building on the U of M campus near the Health Sciences Centre would be a “top priority” if the NDP is elected this fall, he announced from Winnipeg on Friday.

“We’re going to build the physical space to engage in the development of those nurses on the front lines to become the nurse educators that we need in the future. When you look at the vacancy rates across rural Manitoba and the North, and factor in that many folks are approaching retirement age, we need to train the new nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to replace those folks in the future,” Kinew said.

The expansion would also include “state of the art” technology for virtual classrooms to make programs more accessible for rural students, with the overall target of 300 seats to make up for the cumulative nurses’ seats cut from Red River College by the Progressive Conservative government in 2019, Kinew said.

Part of the nurse training program in Manitoba will include adding a licensed practical nurse (LPN) to the registered nurse (RN) pathway that is delivered online in Manitoba, Kinew said.

“If you’re an LPN being trained in Virden right now as part of the Assiniboine Community College program, we will create a pathway for you to become an RN to stay in work in Westman without ever having to leave home, without ever having to disrupt your child-care arrangements, while still being able to earn a living in the community that you’re so very proud of,” Kinew said, in response to a question from The Sun.

There were four major health-care initiatives released by Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont on Friday, as he unveiled his platform with a pledge to rebuild the province’s health-care system.

“We don’t need any more cuts to the people who work in health care. We need to cut the people who are responsible for running it into the ground — the PCs and the NDP. We need to invest in Manitobans and our own province first, in order to rebuild,” Lamont said in a statement.

One of Lamont’s commitments included the creation of a new Brandon campus of the University of Manitoba Medical School dedicated to rural and northern family medicine.

The Liberals will fund the creation of a new University of Manitoba Campus of Rural and Northern Family Health in Brandon, in collaboration with Brandon University.

It will focus on training people who want to work in rural and northern Manitoba in family medicine, as nurse practitioners, in nursing, and Emergency Medical Services.

Additionally, Lamont promised a family doctor for every Manitoban, working with the U of M medical school to increase the number of physician residencies, and bonuses to retain and attract nurses and health professionals.

Lamont said the cost of his party’s health-care platform will be released later.

Manitobans head to the polls to elect a new provincial government on Oct. 3.

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