Treaty 2 Territory, Dauphin, MB—The Pallister government has cut nearly $5 million dollars from Prairie Mountain Regional Health Authority this year. Documents obtained via freedom of information requests also show that over $2 million of that cut is part of a cost saving measure to increase the patient to nurse ratio.

“This cut means less staff providing care to patients when they need it,” said NDP Health Critic Uzoma Asagwara. “Prairie Mountain residents deserve more care, not less.” Asagwara pointed out that cutting the ratio of health staff to patients was just one of the recommendations made by consulting firms like KPMG, which the Pallister government has hired to carry out their health care cuts. The Pallister government is planning to close emergency rooms across rural Manitoba as part of these changes. Prairie Mountain Health is already experiencing significant financial challenges under the Pallister Conservative government, including a $17.5 M “fiscal planning reduction” in 2018. In 2017, Pallister cut an incentive program for rural doctors and announced a plan to close ambulance stations across the province including in Grandview. “Brian Pallister is out of touch with families and health care workers. They are making too many cuts to healthcare too fast, and now they are putting their sights on rural health care. Facilities like the Dauphin Regional Health Centre are already stretched thin and more cuts will only make things worse,” said Asagwara. Wab Kinew and the Manitoba NDP Caucus are in Dauphin this weekend to meet with local health care professionals and to discuss ways to fight the Conservatives’ cuts. The NDP are working to put the brakes on Pallister’s healthcare cuts that put patients’ lives at risk.