WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government is promising to cut wait times for hip and knee replacements as well as for cataract surgeries.
Health Minister Cameron Friesen says the government will provide $5.3 million to fund more procedures each year.
He says that starting next year, the number of hip and knee replacements should jump by 25 per cent, and cataract surgeries should go up by 16 per cent.
Dr. Jack McPherson, a member of a provincial committee on reducing wait times, says demand has been on the rise as the population ages.
Additional cataract surgeries are to take place at the Misericordia Health Centre in Winnipeg.
The extra hip and knee surgeries are to be done at three Winnipeg hospitals as well as the Boundary Trails Health Centre near Winkler.
