Province is dragging its feet on $50M in funding earmarked to ease surgery backlog: NDP
CBC
Manitoba's New Democrats are accusing the Progressive Conservatives of being slow to spend $50 million they committed to help the province chip away at a surgery backlog that worsened amid pandemic shutdowns.
Less than $2.5 million, or nearly five per cent, has been spent five months after the announcement, according to a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) request filed by the NDP and provided to media.
"This means that there are people suffering right now in Manitoba waiting for surgeries unnecessarily," NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Tuesday after question period.
"If you are waiting for a surgery or somebody that you know is, you're going to be pretty upset by this document and you're going to want to bang on this government's door and just tell them to spend the darn money, help people get the surgeries that they need."
The crush of patients in successive waves of the pandemic led the province to cancel thousands of surgeries in an attempt to free up hospital resources for those ill with COVID-19.
In January, then health minister Heather Stefanson committed to clearing the backlog.
The province earmarked $50 million for the issue in an announcement in March, shortly before a third COVID-19 wave inundated Manitoba's healthcare system. The resulting FIPPA document covers spending from the end of March to the end of August.
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