The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon MLA Gerard Jennissen has been hearing a lot more health-related concerns than usual from his constituents. "Sometimes there's a feeling that we don't have the number of nurses or the number of doctors that we need," he said following Saturday's NDP executive meeting at the Labour Temple. Jennissen said it's an NDP priority to tackle the challenge of ensuring there are enough health care professionals in the North. "For the North, there's always the question: Can we improve the system, can we for starters have the requisite numbers of specialists and doctors that we need and can we get them to stay in the North?" he said. "That's very important for us, to have medical professionals in the North, and it's always a struggle. I think we're doing relatively well, but it's always a struggle. "And let's face it, doctors and I suppose nurses as well, and other health professionals... tend to like big cities. So Winnipeg may not have the crunch, but we certainly do in rural areas and Northern Manitoba areas." Other health care concerns Jennissen has heard recently relate to lengthy waiting periods and the costs of traveling for medical purposes. Although the MLA said he is proud of the steps the NDP has taken in the health care field Ñ graduating more nurses and investing in the health care system among them Ñ he admitted there is still work to be done. "I know we've done a lot," he said. "...but there are still some enormous challenges, and right now, the provincial government is heavily focused on the Mad Cow (Disease) crisis and the drought and those things, so we are kind of spread a little thin." The MLA said health care concerns are among the "hundreds of issues" he hears of from his constituents.
