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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor The NDP government is taking credit for a rise in the number of physicians practising in Manitoba. New stats show the province has gained 66 doctors this year, bringing the Manitoba-wide total to 2,538. That means there is now one physician for every 497 Manitobans, a significant rise over the ratio prior to the NDP winning power in 1999. 'With investments in expanded medical training, new recruitment grants and improvements in health care, more doctors are choosing to practise in Manitoba at record levels,' Health Minister Theresa Oswald said in a news release. Oswald said the province is moving closer to its goal of ensuring all Manitobans have access to a family physician by 2015. She also announced the province has hired 11 new physician assistants over the last year, a move designed to ensure more timely access to team-based care for patients. Physician assistants work with doctors and are trained to perform a wide range of services, including conducting patient exams, ordering diagnostic tests, undertaking minor procedures and prescribing medications and treatments. Each intake, up to 12 candidates are accepted into the University of Manitoba's physician assistant program, a two-year faculty of medicine graduate program that includes both lectures and clinical-care courses. Since the program began in 2008, 34 physician assistants have graduated with 85 per cent of them staying in Manitoba.
