NDP pledges to add 5 neighbourhood health clinics in Manitoba if elected

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew is promising to open five neighbourhood health clinics if his party is elected Oct. 3.

Kinew says the minor illness and injury clinics would be staffed with a team of emergency room doctors, nurses and technologists. He says the clinics would offer same-day appointments through online booking.

The Opposition leader says an NDP government would give incentives for health-care staff to open the clinics offering urgent care, which would be in neighbourhoods where they are needed most. The party is expecting to support four of these clinicsin eachquadrant of Winnipeg and one in Brandon.

Kinew says a NDPgovernment would build on the success of the Minor Illness and Injury Clinic, a doctor-run facility that opened in 2019 on Corydon Avenue in Winnipeg.

"We're scaling up a local health-care innovation that these ER docs have come up with. We're going to make it more accessible for folks in Bridgwater and Sage Creek and Devonshire and Amber Trails and in Brandon," he says.

"And along the way, it's also going to be something that helps us to recruit more physicians to work in the system because it's a compelling offer for them to be able to continue doing meaningful work that provides a bit more work-life balance for them."

The former NDP government established similar clinics during their time in office, but most were closed due to fiscal restraint measures implemented by the Progressive Conservative government.

Kinew says cuts made by the Tories have driven health-care workers to a breaking point.

If elected, the party expects to support the opening of one of these clinics every year. The NDP anticipates each clinicwill cost $2 million annually in incentives and other costs.

• Read full coverage of the 2023 Manitoba election here.