The Government of Canada is helping to bring more family physicians into the Manitoba health-care system. On Wednesday, the federal and provincial governments came together to announce $6 million in federal funding over three years to expand practice-ready assessment opportunities for international medical graduates. According to the governments, the initiative is expected to bring up to 90 new family physicians to Manitoba by 2028-2029. The governments added that the funding will also provide more reliable access to care and improve family medicine and emergency services in Manitoba. “To build a strong health-care system, we need a stable workforce. Too often, doctors and nurses don’t have the time to give the all the care they would like to give to their patients,” said Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel at a news conference on Wednesday. “We could fix it by making sure that thousands of internally educated health-care professionals already here in Canada actually work in health.” Manitoba’s practice ready assessment program is an accelerated licensure route for internationally trained doctors and medical graduates who have finished residency and want to practice in the province. The federal funding is subject to the finalization of an agreement between the Governments of Canada and Manitoba.
