On Tuesday May 10, I asked, in Question period, about the long wait times for hip, knee and cataract surgery. It is clearly not optimum to run a health care system like this because the surgery has to be done and it is better for the patient and less costly for the system if it is done in a timely fashion rather than have the long wait times which are present now, and which were present going back to the years when the NDP were in government.
Hip, Knee and
Cataract Surgery
Wait Times in Manitoba
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River
Heights): Madam Speaker, the optimum way to run a health-care system to achieve
the best care for Manitobans and the lowest cost to the Province is to have
short wait times for critical procedures like hip, knee replacements, cataracts,
cardiac surgeries.
Surgeries need to be done. But when there is a delay instead of a quick
turnaround, the health issue gets worse, the pain and suffering is greater and
it costs more to fix the health issue. Manitoba is near the worst in Canada in
this respect, as CIHI reports today.
Why has this government, both pre-pandemic and now–and the government
before it–been operating Manitoba's health-care system with long delays in the
worst way for Manitobans who need care, and in the most expensive way?
Hon. Audrey Gordon (Minister
of Health): I thank the member for River Heights for the question.
Wait times and our surgical and diagnostic backlog is a very important
issue for this government. It's also a priority for our government. That is
why in Budget 2022, Madam Speaker, we are investing $110 million to
address the backlog, to reduce those numbers.
And it's not just about the numbers. Behind every number is a person, and so we
want to ensure that every Manitoban knows that this government realizes that
they are in need of their surgical procedures and their diagnostics, and we are
taking action through our Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force.
Comments
Post a Comment