Treaty One Territory, Métis Homeland, Winnipeg, MB - Manitoba Liberals say the PCs need to heed the warnings of doctors who are quitting and address the "dysfunction" they have created in Manitoba's Health Care system.
In a blog post, Dr. Sandor Demeter said he is resigning from nuclear medicine at HSC due to cuts, dysfunction, and an inability of Shared Health to make decisions on time - what he termed an "agonizing health care transformation."
Demeter writes that the wait list for PET scanning is more than four weeks at the time of writing, "which is unacceptable for newly diagnosed cancer patients," and that, "The inability to make decisions and move forward has had profound negative impacts on staff morale. For example, the HSC Diagnostic Imaging Director position has been vacant for almost three years and the Cyclotron and Radiopharmacy Director positions have been vacant for over two years."
Demeter was responsible for the PET scanner, which can detect cancers early. Over 2000 patients a year used the scanner, which meant that Manitobans do not have to go out of province for PET scans. With the installation of a medical cyclotron we can make the cancer PET tracers in Manitoba rather than flying them in from Edmonton.
"I am truly saddened that many of the innovative gains made in my department during the first decade at the job have largely evaporated into a dysfunctional bureaucratic quagmire in the subsequent ten years," said Demeter. "Our health care system is certainly broken now, and Shared Health leadership should be held accountable to fix it or step aside and let someone else do it."
"The reality is that doctors and nurses are leaving health care because the PCs have made it impossible to work there," said Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal Leader and MLA for St. Boniface. "The PCs cut too deep and too long, and patients are paying the price. The rebuilding needs to start now."
Manitoba Liberals say the crisis in our health care system was made worse when the PCs went ahead with a health care system transformation in the middle of a pandemic, despite repeated warnings from health care professionals.
Last week, Manitoba Liberals called on the PCs to outline a plan to address surgery backlogs that were bad and made worse by the pandemic.
"Beyond problems with equipment and staff, there is a fundamental problem with trust," said Dr. Jon Gerrard, Manitoba Liberal Health Critic and MLA for River Heights. "It is a scandal that the only reason we are hearing about these crises is because doctors of the stature of Dr. Demeter are quitting."
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Attached: Dr. Demeter Blog: www.codeblue.me/post/exit-stage-left