Province must also retain docs

Re: Ottawa offers $6M to hire 90 new doctors (Oct. 15)

The federal government’s $6-million commitment to help Manitoba recruit up to 90 additional family doctors by 2028-29 is welcome news, but it should not be mistaken for a solution to the province’s persistent physician shortage.

The question is not simply how many doctors Manitoba can recruit, but how many it can retain — and whether patients will actually have better access to care as a result.

Expanding the practice-ready assessment program for internationally trained physicians is a sensible step. These doctors bring valuable skills and experience, and a more efficient licensing pathway can help address staffing shortages, particularly in rural, northern and Indigenous communities. However, recruitment alone cannot compensate for a health-care system that struggles to retain the physicians it already has.

The reported loss of 8.3 doctors per 1,000 residents through interprovincial migration in 2025, along with survey findings that 22 per cent of practising physicians planned to retire or relocate within three years, should serve as a serious warning.

If Manitoba continues to lose doctors to other provinces because of burnout, excessive administrative workloads, professional isolation and inadequate support, how much of the new investment will translate into lasting improvements?

The difficulties faced by communities such as Carberry, where hospital emergency department services remain severely limited, illustrate the difference between announcing recruitment initiatives and delivering reliable health care. A community does not benefit simply because a doctor has been recruited if staffing gaps, inadequate team support or other operational challenges continue to restrict services.

Manitoba must also address the conditions that drive physicians away. Competitive compensation, team-based care, reduced administrative burdens, adequate staffing, professional development and meaningful support for doctors working in rural and remote areas are essential. The $6-million commitment may be a good start, as municipal leaders have suggested. But Manitobans should judge success by outcomes, not announcements. Until the province can demonstrate that it is retaining doctors, strengthening rural health services and providing timely access to family physicians, another recruitment initiative risks treating the symptoms rather than the causes of the crisis.

Yog Rahi Gupta Winnipeg