NDP recruit seven more U.S. doctors

The Manitoba government has recruited seven new U.S. doctors — bringing the total number hired from south of the border to 13, the province said Friday.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said U.S. doctors are choosing to work in Manitoba because they want to practise medicine without insurance barriers getting in the way, deal with less administrative overhead and make clinical decisions based on evidence instead of political interference.

“In Manitoba, we respect physician autonomy, we respect human rights and we centre care around patients, not profit,” Asagwara said during a press conference at the provincial legislative building on Friday.

The new recruits are either already practising in the province, have accepted positions or in their final immigration or licensing stages.

Eleven of the 13 U.S. doctors are based in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority practising family medicine, diagnostic imaging, pathology, internal medicine, pediatrics or psychiatry, they said.

One of the remaining two doctors specializes in emergency medicine in Prairie Mountain Health, while the other practises internal medicine in the Southern Health-Santé Sud region.

Treena Slate, the CEO for Prairie Mountain Health, said in a statement the new U.S. doctor is anticipated to begin practising in Brandon in February.

The minister said Manitoba was seen as a “fly-over province” under the previous government, but now more doctors and health-care providers are seeing it as their first choice.

“We want to make sure we keep doing everything we can to maintain that momentum,” they said.

The initial six U.S. doctors were recruited by last October and were among 33 American-trained physicians who had accepted positions or expressed interest, were in the early screening and interview process, or were going through licensing and immigration stages, Asagwara said.

As of this month, there are 58 candidates from the U.S. who are interested in working in Manitoba, they said. The physicians are recruited through the province’s health-care retention and recruitment office, which opened in May 2024.

The number of doctors in the recruitment pipeline naturally fluctuates as not every candidate accepts a position, Asagwara said.

In June, the province made it easier for physicians to come to Manitoba by changing regulations to streamline the path for U.S. doctors to apply for full licensure.

Dr. Jesse Krikorian, a family physician from Michigan who recently joined Klinic Community Health in Winnipeg, said the move felt like a “really great” fit for him for multiple reasons.

He began looking for a position outside the U.S. in January 2025 and moved to Manitoba in the summer.

“I moved in large part because I saw the increasing government interference in care, and I do community health, so I focus on underserved populations, and that includes LGBTQ+ populations,” Krikorian said at Friday’s press conference.

While he’s passionate about helping people in need, it was becoming increasingly difficult to provide quality medical care to those patients, he said.

He also said it wasn’t uncommon to have patients in the U.S. who needed a quicker followup, but they couldn’t afford to see a doctor, and “that’s a hard thing to carry morally as a physician.”

Now he’s able to focus more on his patients in Manitoba, Krikorian said. He used the example of not having to spend hours on the phone speaking with insurance companies.

Krikorian said he has heard from other American medical professionals who are interested in working in the province.

“For physicians in the U.S. who are looking for a change, especially those who want to focus on patient care and practice in a system that reflects their values, Manitoba is a place I genuinely encourage them to consider,” he said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said during the press conference that “everyone sees what’s going on in the United States” and he’s proud the province accepts people for who they are and celebrates inclusion and diversity.

“This is the most inclusive, most staffed up, strongest Manitoba’s health care has ever been,” he said.

The recruitment of 13 U.S.-trained physicians is in addition to the 285 net new doctors who have joined the health-care system since the NDP formed government in 2023, the province said.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com