Manitoba doctors warn healthcare system under strain with growing numbers of COVID-19 – Winnipeg

The group that represents doctors across the province says there is a growing backlog of surgeries and more cancellations of important procedures as the COVID-19 pandemic rages in Manitoba.

Dr Kristjan Thompson, president of Doctors Manitoba, said on Tuesday: “We are very close to the brink.

“This pandemic has shown how inflexible our health care system is.”

In response to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, the province has shifted resources from other areas. It has reduced the number of surgeries and diagnostic tests.

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In recent days, they have canceled a number of non-emergency heart surgeries to ensure they have enough staff to accommodate the intensive care beds.

Tracked by Manitoba doctors, the backlog of tests and surgeries has grown each month. The group’s latest data shows the backlog of surgeries last month rose by more than 2,300 to 56,000 for the first time last month.

Most diagnostic tests, including mammograms and ultrasounds, also show a larger backlog, while waiting lists for MRI scans are slightly reduced.

Thompson said he’s concerned the province is getting close to being as bad as it was last spring when dozens of intensive care patients were moved to other provinces because of a lack of beds.

He said: “Although the number of people in the intensive care unit is lower than during last spring’s peak, the situation is problematic as nurses and other workers are leaving the ICU and emergency department.

“There’s a lot of people who are getting fed up, they’re leaving to work in other areas of healthcare, other medical specialties,” Thompson said.

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“I think people leave because they feel they can’t take care of patients the way they should.”

Health Secretary Audrey Gordon’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gordon had promised her to introduce a new workgroup on Wednesday to ease the backlog.

Dr Manitoba’s statistics come on the same day the province announced its first known COVID-19 case linked to the Omicron variant.

The province said the person was showing mild symptoms and had come from one of the 10 African countries the federal government has placed restrictions on because of this variant.

Have a question about COVID-19? Here are a few things you need to know:

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