The current situation with the shortage of doctors, specifically (but certainly not limited to) rural areas of Manitoba has created a terrifying shortage of health care services in our province. If nothing is done, very soon we will be facing a public health crisis which will see a two-tiered level of care: one for those living in cities and major centres, and a second, lesser level of care for those living outside of these centres.

Rural health centres are being hollowed out, with more and more services only being available in larger centres — specifically, Brandon and Winnipeg. It is recognized that this is a much wider issue than our local area, but something must be done.

Currently, there are four countries which are sources of international recruitment where physicians, specifically, may relocate from who are deemed “practice ready” by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. As a taxpayer in the Province of Manitoba, I am requesting that the Manitoba Minister of Health, Audrey Gordon, demand that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba either relax these requirements in the face of this public health emergency or, alternatively, address the shortage which is resulting in these closures by allowing alternatives such as qualified Nurse Practitioners to be granted the privileges currently only allowed to physicians in areas for which physicians cannot be found.

Residents of Manitoba require, and deserve, timely and local health care. Until we can address long-term solutions to this problem, we must do something to avert the crisis which we are currently facing.