Making the most of our medical resources
The thing about common sense, it is often said, is that it's not really all that common.
In life, and most certainly in politics, it's infallibly true that the path to accomplishing anything will almost never follow the simplest, most direct and most logical route. Decisions are the result of consultation, discussion and debate, and the inevitable insertion of competing interests and self-serving agendas into the collaborative process necessarily leads to compromises that complicate what was initially envisioned as a straightforward action to serve a very specific purpose.
In the end, the consensus solution might end up addressing a variety of individual needs without actually solving the problem at hand. As the old saying goes, a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS files
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara
Given this tendency toward legislative and bureaucratic encumbrance, it's both refreshing and encouraging to see government and service-providing agencies arrive at an action designed first and foremost to serve the greater public good, as seems to be the case in the decision to expand the powers and responsibilities of pharmacists in an effort to streamline Manitoba's chronically overburdened health-care system.
The province announced last week that beginning in July, pharmacists will be empowered to prescribe certain medications, including contraceptives and some HIV treatments, directly to clients. It's a common-sense initiative that will ease the administrative burden on doctors and allow patients to more easily access services that should not require a physician's sign-off.
'We've been waiting for this for a very long time,' said Pharmacists Manitoba board member Marianna Pozdirca. 'We have a health-care system that is strained and we have over 1,000 pharmacists in the province who are educated to do more than dispensing.'
While all pharmacists-in-training across Canada (except in Quebec) must complete the same standardized licensing exam, graduates in some other provinces — including Alberta and Saskatchewan — enter the profession with wider scopes of practice than pharmacists in Manitoba.
Manitoba, Ontario and the three territories are currently the only jurisdictions in Canada that do not allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control.
The change is overdue. As Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park) rightly pointed out, empowering pharmacists with expanded authority to prescribe should help to reduce wait times for patients seeking other services in clinics and hospital emergency rooms.
Tuesdays
A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara called the change 'a very reasonable expansion of scope for pharmacists in Manitoba,' adding that it's important for those studying pharmacy in Manitoba to know they will, upon graduation, be able to practise to the full scope of their skills and abilities.
The bottom line is this: as was the case with expanding the responsibilities of nurse practitioners to include ordering and interpreting some diagnostic tests, prescribing medications and performing minor surgical procedures, any change that eases the burden on Manitoba's stretched-thin physician ranks should be given serious consideration.
Matters jurisdictional and budgetary will need to be ironed out, of course, but the process should be focused on removing barriers and improving access — particularly for those residing in rural or remote areas, and those who don't have a family doctor — rather than creating self-interest-driven impediments.
And as the government in this province — and, it seems, every other province — struggles in its ongoing and highly competitive effort to attract and retain physicians, those tasked with administering and funding the system should embrace opportunities to streamline and improve care whenever they present themselves.
In the race to provide Manitobans with the health care they deserve, the effort is better served by a horse than a camel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
18 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Free Press Head Start for Aug. 12, 2025
A mix of sun and cloud. Widespread smoke late this morning and this afternoon. Wind from the west at 20 km/h. High 22 C. Humidex 25. UV index 6 or high. What's happening today Stargazers are in for a shimmering show tonight as the annual Perseid meteor shower is set to reach its peak. NASA says the fireball shower began last month and the celestial event is expected to peak tonight and tomorrow before ending on Aug. 23. The Canadian Press has more here. A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky during the Perseid meteor shower in Vinton, Calif., in 2009. (Kevin Clifford / The Associated Press files) Today's must-read The union representing Millennium Library workers says it's considering taking legal action against the city to more quickly implement safety changes after a man died by suicide at the downtown library last week. The city's main library branch was closed from Thursday to Saturday afternoon after a 40-year-old man was found with 'significant injuries' Wednesday evening. Medics were called to the scene and he died in hospital. Police described the incident as 'non-suspicious' at the time; sources confirmed to the Free Press Monday that the man jumped from the fourth floor. Gord Delbridge, the president of CUPE Local 500, said the union will be sending letters to Mayor Scott Gillingham, city council and city administration to formally demand planned safety improvements — including a redesign of the facility's lobby — are expedited. Malak Abas has the story. A 40-year-old man has died after sources say he jumped from a fourth-floor ledge in the city's largest library. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files) On the bright side In London, Ont., Krystyna Locke is celebrating turning 63 by paying the parking fees for cancer patients. The lymphoma cancer survivor knows just how quickly those bills add up after a 20-year journey of hospital visits to London Health Sciences Centre. That's why she's raised more than $3,700 to pay for 250 parking passes today. The Canadian Press has more here. Krystyna Locke is a lymphoma cancer survivor who is covering the cost of other patients' parking for her 63rd birthday. (Handout / London Health Sciences Foundation / The Canadian Press) On this date On Aug. 12, 1933: The Winnipeg Free Press reported a Manitoba coroner's jury found an elderly pensioner's death near Gardenton was the result of a violent assault; police were searching for the perpetrator. Cuban armed forces demanded the resignation within 24 hours of president Gerardo Machado. Several villages along the northern coast of Newfoundland were evacuated as strong winds blew a wall of fire toward the settlements. Read the rest of this day's paper here. Search our archives for more here. Today's front page Get the full story: Read today's e-edition of the Free Press .
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
A new Toronto HIV clinic is 'bridging the gap' in care with free medication and more
A new, free-of-charge clinic in downtown Toronto is hoping to change lives for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). For people without coverage, it can be next to impossible to afford the medication needed to manage HIV. But access to medication isn't the only service that the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA) offers. The PWA says it provides immigration services, a food bank and a lunch program to people in Toronto living with HIV. Ower Oberto, the linkage to care manager at the centre, lives with HIV and came to Canada in 2014. "I know how stressful it is not having access to medication," he said. When he first immigrated from Venezuela, Oberto says he didn't know how or even if he could source his medication as a newcomer. "People living with HIV with precarious immigration status, they wouldn't be able to see a doctor or they have to pay that doctor with money out of pocket," he said. "My medication costs more than $1,200 per month." Eleven years later, he now works at the PWA's new clinic providing medication to people with HIV. The clinic was created in partnership with Freddie — a health organization that specializes in HIV prevention and care. "For us it's been an amazing partnership," Oberto said. "We feel like we are family." The PWA's one-room clinic is staffed with two nurses and sees patients once a week, on Wednesdays. Clients don't need to be covered by OHIP or insurance, and vary in immigration status, from international students, to visitors and citizens. "We are bridging all the gaps that have been [letting] … those folks fall into the cracks," Oberto said. "The population we see is a population that is also not easy to support because they don't fill the criteria for the other clinics that are in the city." Clients are set up with patient assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies and leave the clinic medication in hand. The clinic is located on the third floor of the PWA's building near Jarvis Street and Queen Street E. Currently the clinic is running a pilot, which began in June. But Oberto has big dreams of scaling up so that it can serve more people with extended hours. "We are looking forward to [having] more days or more hours, because it's getting busier," he said. "We are looking forward … to [having] a bigger clinic and also to have a pharmacy here downstairs." Though the HIV-positive population in Canada is relatively small — approximately 62,790 as of 2020, according to a 2022 Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) report. That number is now growing despite education and prevention campaigns. According to PHAC, 2,434 people learned they carried the virus in 2023, up 35 per cent from the previous year. Of those diagnosed across Canada, PHAC estimates 87 per cent are in treatment and 95 per cent of those have suppressed viral loads, which doctors say makes the virus undetectable, untransmittable and prevents it from progressing to AIDS. A decade ago, the United Nations set a goal to eradicate the HIV epidemic by 2030. "This is the best way to do it," Oberto said.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Letters, Aug 9
Opinion Today did it for me. I will not be using Transit unless I absolutely have to. I have phoned 311 to complain about the removal of bus stops requiring a lot of walking. Wait until our winter weather is here! I am a senior with mobility issues and with the smoke in the air, the extra walking to make the connections is very hard on me. Today I had to go to the 1600 block of St. Mary's Road from Henderson Highway. Three buses, two transfers and about four blocks to make my connections. For the return trip, four buses, three transfers and about six blocks to make my connections. Not to mention the time factor. What a joke this new system is. Len St. Marie Winnipeg The issue of quality food being provided in our care homes should be on everyone's mind. We are an aging society and whether we want to face it or not, many of us will require care home assistance at some point in the future. I experienced this situation when my father-in-law had to move into a Winnipeg care home. We visited him regularly, often during mealtimes so that we could sit and talk comfortably with him, and I was appalled at how limited his food choices were. A sandwich of white bread with a thin film of mayo and one thin slice of ham (so thin you could have read the Free Press through it) and a tiny fruit cup is not an adequate meal. We realized how awful this was for him at a spring visit during Covid. A fence had been erected just outside an exit door where they could wheel out patients and permit family members to talk to them from across the fence. As my father-in-law was quite deaf, he could barely understand us and became highly frustrated. At the end of this horrific visit, in a desperate attempt to reach out to him, I screamed, 'What can we bring you?' He heard that and screamed back one word, 'Food!' His life had been reduced to almost nothing and all he wanted was some tasty food. We began taking him burgers and fried chicken and he was immensely grateful. Care homes are so obsessed with keeping patients alive they have forgotten to let them live. It was pointed out to me that the food we brought was not healthy, to which I replied he was over 90 years old, so why did it matter? It made him happy. We need to think hard about this, because one day each of us may end up in a care home and have no choice about our food. We should be permitted to enjoy what little of life we have left. Steve Oetting Winnipeg Re: 'New build, big price' (Letters, Aug. 6) I'm with Alice French regarding her letter to the editor about the unattractive infill houses being built in older neighbourhoods (out of the average person's price range to boot). I'm not averse to changes in style, and I understand that whoever buys a lot can pretty much knock down and (within building codes) put up whatever they like. But the people who've designed these infill houses haven't used their talents to add elements to help them blend into the aesthetics of the area. Either that or their client in each case forced their hand. ('No! I said dystopian!') In my neighbourhood, some are two-storey boxes clad in dark corrugated metal and others are 2-1/2-storey, barn-shaped monoliths that block out the sunlight in their neighbours' backyards. They stand out like sore thumbs. Imagining a future where formerly charming neighbourhoods are filled with expensive corrugated boxes and massive barns, with all the tall, old-growth elms felled by Dutch elm disease, is pretty depressing. These homeowners likely move into their neighbourhoods because they like them as they are, but they're the leading architects of their demise. Cheryl Moore Winnipeg I was pleased to read Pam Frampton's article Ageism keeps rearing its ugly head (Aug. 6). I agreed when she mentioned that society often renders older adults invisible. Look at TV and print advertising for products and services that older adults use — anything from coffee to pet supplies, yet all the people in the ads are younger. I have written to some of these businesses, and the responses varied from no response to 'we believe in diversity.' There are businesses I don't shop/buy products from as they don't value older adults. As older adults, we need and deserve to be visible and not fade away as time goes on. I also like Frampton's suggestion of renaming OAS to the Canadian Retirement Supplement — I would change the word 'supplement' to 'benefits,' as this is close to the current Guaranteed Income Supplement. Just like her, I am waiting for Manitoba's Seniors' Advocate to start sooner rather than later. Thank you, Pam, for raising this important issue. Cindy Kelly Winnipeg Can we not see what Erna Buffie saw in the July 28 Free Press (Clean energy is the future — why are we investing in fossil fuels?), that wind and solar energy fit easily with Manitoba? With global warming, we see that Hudson's Bay will be open for more months of the year to export grain, potash and meat to the world. Fossil fuels will be out of date by the time an oil pipeline is built, as fewer consumers will be using oil and natural gas as their energy sources, perhaps since solar and wind will be less costly. Manitoba has resources to export, a rail line to get to port and a good terminal to ship these resources to those in need. Fossil fuels are becoming an older energy source. Let us look ahead to what Manitoba does best. Nature is our greatest resource. Let us continue to use the resources which Manitoba has. Farmers, fisherpersons and forests, as well as the creative people, are what we have in abundance. Let us stick with our strengths and forget the out-of-date fossil fuels. Barrie Hammond Winnipeg Winnipeg is finally having to pay the piper for its neglected infrastructure needs! We read almost daily that the City of Winnipeg is struggling with its attempts to catch up with our major accumulated infrastructure deficits, including our rapidly increasing costs for water and sewage treatment plants, rapidly deteriorating roads and dilapidated bridges, most of which are close too or have now exceeded their 'shelf life.' By and large, this is a result of its councils' irresponsible decision to choose 25 years of unwarranted tax restraints, which was exacerbated by Winnipeg's 14 years of property taxes being frozen, which finally came to an end in 2012. In fact, since 1998, Winnipeg's compounded property tax increase has only been 35 per cent while other major Western Canadian cities have seen increases ranging from 129 per cent to 189 per cent over the same period. Rick Lambert Winnipeg Real Canadians should abhor any Canadian leaving Canada to visit family, friends or just vacation in the good old U.S.A. because of President Donald Trump's recent tariff increase from 25 per cent to 35 per cent against Canada. Give your head a shake, people. He hasn't mentioned us becoming the 51st state lately but his recent actions push Canada closer to this ultimate end. Spend your Canadian dollars in Canada first and anywhere else on our planet, but not in the U.S.A. The good old U.S.A. is just not good anymore. R. J. Moskal Winnipeg
