Surgical, diagnostic task force remains quiet

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This article was published 03/03/2022 (931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government’s surgical and diagnostic task force did not address the public this week, as promoted by the health minister.

On Wednesday, Audrey Gordon told Manitobans to expect a progress report very soon; during question period Thursday, she told legislature colleagues the task force would issue its second update Friday.

It did not — leaving a spokesman for Gordon’s office to say the task force is limited by the Elections Financing Act when it comes to the information it can share in the lead-up to the March 22 byelection in Fort Whyte.

Instead, a summary of the task force’s progress since its last public address on Jan. 19 was posted to the Manitoba government’s website late Friday afternoon. No new initiatives were announced.

Opposition NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the government appears to be using the Elections Financing Act as cover, after falling short on a commitment to provide a significant update on the file.

“They flat-out lied to Manitobans yesterday, when they with great enthusiasm said that they would be providing an update on the surgical backlog today,” Asagwara said. “And what they’ve done is dash the hopes of thousands of Manitobans who continue to wait in pain, suffering with no end in sight for delayed surgeries and procedures.”

The task force is mandated to provide monthly updates, but failed to provide a report in February.

“We want to ensure that when we do come forward with an update that it’s substantial and it provides the hope that Manitobans so desperately need,” Gordon told reporters Wednesday.

Asagwara said the New Democrats would have no issues with the provincial government providing updates or announcements on its efforts to address the backlog in the lead-up to the byelection.

“(Thursday), the minister explicitly stated they would come out today and provide a significant update for Manitobans, and they didn’t,” the MLA for Union Station said. “It’s a level of incompetence that has been on display repeatedly with this government.”

The Elections Financing Act restricts government advertising and communications during an election period. However, it contains exceptions for announcements about public health or safety, or related to the usual operations of a government department and is a “continuation of earlier advertisements or publications concerning an ongoing or recurring program or activity.”

In its summary, the province said the Sanford Health facility in Fargo, N.D., has started to accept Manitoba patients referred for spinal surgery. No other details were provided.

The start date to offer surgeries at the private Maples Surgical Centre in Winnipeg was pushed back to the end of March. A system-wide shift to using fecal immunochemical testing for colon cancer screening instead of endoscopy will begin in early April.

Both initiatives were previously announced.

Efforts to increase surgical services at Manitoba hospitals are also underway, according to the report. Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre increased its surgical slates by three between January and February, while Concordia Hospital is currently at full surgical capacity.

All cardiac slates at St. Boniface Hospital have been running since Jan. 31, according to the province. Surgical and endoscopy volumes at Brandon Regional Health Centre are back to pre-pandemic volumes.

Two more slates and one endoscopy room will go into operation in Winnipeg next week, while surgeries at Portage District General Hospital, Carmen Memorial Hospital and Boundary Trails Health Centre will be “ramping up,” the task force said.

Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach will increase surgeries the week of March 14, when it’s anticipated many health-care workers who were deployed to provide COVID-19 care will return to their regular assignments.

Wait lists for CT scans, ultrasounds and MRIs were also reduced by an average of 14 per cent in January, the task force report indicated.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca