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NDP Cuts Cancel Over 1300 Surgeries in 3 Months

NDP negligence driving up wait times in Manitoba: Cook

WINNIPEG — More than 1,300 surgeries were cancelled at Winnipeg hospitals in the first three months after Wab Kinew and his NDP health minister cut Manitoba’s diagnostic and surgical task force last fall, internal documents reveal.

Roblin MLA Kathleen Cook, PC Critic for Health, tabled the documents–recently released through a freedom of information request—in the Legislature today, and called on the NDP to immediately release the number of cancelled surgeries from January through March 2024.

Between October and December 2023, surgeries were cancelled at Concordia, Grace, Saint Boniface, Misericordia, and Victoria hospitals, and the Health Sciences Centre, all in Winnipeg. The released data does not include surgeries that were cancelled in Brandon, Dauphin, rural and northern communities, or out of province.

“The NDP are putting politics over patients,” said Cook. “It’s clear the NDP’s decision to cut the task force had immediate impacts on surgical capacity in Manitoba.”

The task force funded more than 80,000 procedures for Manitobans that would not have been completed otherwise, and successfully eliminated 90% of the diagnostic backlog and 70% of the surgical backlog in Manitoba.

Last week, it was revealed that the NDP had let dozens of contracts signed by the task force lapse at the end of the fiscal year. These agreements increased capacity for orthopaedic surgeries, cataract surgeries, hip and knee surgeries, and more.

“Budget 2024 does nothing to address patients waiting in pain today, and the NDP are dragging their feet to renew contracts with clinics that increased Manitoba’s surgical capacity,” said Cook. “The NDP’s negligence will continue to drive up wait times.”

The FIPPA document can be found here.

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For media inquiries, please contact PCCaucus_Media@leg.gov.mb.ca

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