It was my pleasure to once again welcome Premier Brian Pallister as well as Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen and Indigenous and Northern Relations Minister Eileen Clarke to Thompson this week. They were in northern Manitoba to announce that our government is making critical investments in expanding, modernizing and improving the delivery of health-care services in the north and throughout the province. We are investing nearly $5.2 million, including $2.4 million from Budget 2019, in an expansion of life-saving dialysis services for up to 72 patients province-wide while hiring more nurses and other staff to support it.
As part of this, dialysis service will expand at Thompson General Hospital to accommodate an additional six patients. Having patients receive services closer to home is integral to our government’s approach to improving Manitoba’s health system, and expanding dialysis in Thompson will make it easier for northerners living with kidney disease and kidney failure to receive necessary care where and when they need it most.
This week, our government also announced the completion of a $27-million renovation and expansion of the hospital emergency department in Flin Flon. This vastly improved emergency department will deliver better care sooner for northern patients, while ensuring staff at the hospital have the most up-to-date tools they need.
In emergency medical services, as well, we are making significant improvements. With Budget 2019, our government has kept a promise by reducing Manitoba’s ambulance fee to a maximum of $250, less than half of what it was under the previous NDP administration. The fee reduction is part of our commitment to better, more affordable and more timely ambulance service for families throughout Manitoba. While increasing the provincial health-care budget this year to $6.65 billion, the largest it’s ever been, we are also purchasing 65 new ambulances and devoting $3.8 million to the hiring of 35 additional primary-care paramedics.
Our government is committed to providing all Manitoba patients with better health care, and sooner. We are investing in critical life-saving services closer to home, keeping our promises and getting the job done.
