It may be July on the Prairies, but the heat is letting up for doctors in Portage la Prairie after Manitoba’s health minister stepped in to end their week-long emergency room walkout.
The community’s ER closed its doors July 18 as doctors protested a new deal that offers physicians in cities like Portage and Brandon $70 an hour to provide 24-hour emergency room coverage.
Although the agreement was approved by 80 percent of rural and northern doctors who voted, Portage physicians said they couldn’t handle the increased workload since they could no longer combine ER and regular clinic duties.
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Until a permanent solution is worked out over the next four months, the provincial health department will be responsible to find doctors from outside the community to work the ER from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week. Portage doctors will provide emergency services during the evenings, on weekends and on statutory holidays for $70 an hour.
Health minister Darren Praznik said a long-term solution lies in the community, the province, the regional health authority and Portage doctors taking a shared responsibility in recruiting new doctors.
Portage family doctor Robin Carter said the drastic action doctors took to bring attention to the issue will be repeated if the province doesn’t take a stronger role in the recruitment process.
“We can go some way to make the reception friendlier and more co-ordinated but we have to do this in concert.”
Doctors in Portage will walk out again in four months if the process doesn’t yield results, Carter said.
In Brandon, where doctors limited emergency room services to their own patients July 1, the regional health authority found three doctors willing to cover the ER full time.
