The Manitoba NDP has made a big, splashy campaign promise for Flin Flon – if elected, the party has pledged to restart full obstetrics care at Flin Flon General Hospital.
The pledge was part of the party’s online platform released earlier this month, as well as part of the party’s recently released northern Manitoba strategy, unveiled August 24 in Thompson.
Along with the statement, the party also pledged to restore provincial Lifeflight services, upgrade and repair operating rooms at Thompson General Hospital, fix northern highways and use the Mining Community Reserve Fund (MCRF) to assist communities affected by unemployment.
“We want to make sure the operating rooms… get back up and running, and that they’re not fixed to 1960s spec, that they’re actually built to the standards of today with cutting-edge equipment, so that when you need to get an operation here you will be taken care of with the best quality health care possible,” said Kinew.
When asked on the issue, a press representative for the Progressive Conservatives responded with a list of health priorities for northern health care, but stopped short of making a firm commitment to restore obstetrics in Flin Flon. The spokesperson cited the ongoing Provincial Clinical and Preventative Services Plan as determining whether the restoration of full obstetrical care in Flin Flon would take place.
“Future enhancements to health care services in the region will be tied to the development of the Provincial Clinical and Preventive Services Plan. That includes the hospital’s obstetrics unit, where the health region has struggled to fill a full-time obstetrician position,” read the statement.
“The clinical plan will look at ways that encourage health care professionals to take positions in rural and northern communities, ensuring a more consistent level of care for Manitobans, no matter where they live in the province. That includes the long-term re-establishment of the obstetrics unit in Flin Flon.”
With files from the Thompson Citizen
