WINNIPEG (TREATY 1) - The Manitoba Health Coalition (MHC) - a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the protection, promotion and expansion of public health care in Manitoba - has analyzed the Government of Manitoba's "COVID-19 Health Care System Recovery Plan" and published a response in order to advance debate and discussion on the path forward for Manitoba in the coming months and years.

"Manitoba health care is at a crossroads," said MCH Provincial Director Thomas Linner. "Vital protections such as testing and tracing, self-isolation, masking mandates and vaccine requirements have been abandoned despite continued significant pressures on hospitals, care homes and front-line workers. Manitoba families need clarity and a clear path forward - but they did not receive that in the government's report last week."

MHC's key findings from the report include:

  • Unfair and traumatic practices like inter-region transfers are set to increase, not decrease, in the weeks ahead
  • No plan is set out to improve seniors or long-term care, including any examination of the for-profit system that led to such disastrous results in Manitoba and Canada
  • The path forward requires a comprehensive health care human resources strategy not discussed in the government's report, which does not even use the word "retention" once
  • No benchmarks are set out for the resumption of public health measures, should they become necessary
  • No timelines are set out for the clearing of surgical and diagnostic backlogs
  • No mention is given to the critical need for a full an independent public inquiry in the government's pandemic response

"By laying out an incomplete picture of what the scale of investment, recruitment and retention will be moving forward to protect health care for Manitoba families, the government is doing us all a disservice," said Linner. "The time is now to invest in real solutions that strengthen public health care for Manitoba families and support front-line health care workers. That is the true path to recovery for Manitoba’s health care system."