Manitoba reviewing contract after staffing agency fails to bring over any doctors after 8 months
CBC
Manitoba's health minister is examining why a staffing agency has little to show for itself after signing a contract to bring 150 family doctors to the province.
Eight months after the province inked a two-year deal with Canadian Health Labs (CHL), the firm has yet to recruit a single doctor to the province, the government confirmed on Tuesday.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara is promising to review the contract as the government evaluates any further actions to take.
"Of course, it's disappointing," Asagwara said after an unrelated news conference.
"Manitobans are counting on governments — previous government and our government included — to make sure that we're recruiting the physicians needed to provide the care that they deserve."
The former Progressive Conservative government inked the deal with Canadian Health Labs, a Toronto-based recruitment company, last August after a competitive request for proposals process.
The company is supposed to recruit 50 physicians in Winnipeg, 50 in northern Manitoba and 50 in other rural communities — all within two years.
While there's an option for the deal to be extended into a third year, former PC health minister Audrey Gordon expressed confidence last summer the target would be met. She added the recruitment firm would face penalties if goals weren't achieved at certain stages of the contract.
Asagwara said a review of the province's deal is ongoing.
"I am doing my due diligence as the minister to evaluate that contract thoroughly and determine best next steps forward."
No options are off the table, Asagwara said. Choices may include delaying or terminating the contract, according to a redacted contract Radio-Canada received through a freedom of information request.
CHL maintains it has done a "significant amount of work" in recruiting family physicians to the province, the vast majority of which are international candidates.
In February, Shared Health, which oversees health-care delivery in Manitoba, told CBC News the firm has "assigned dedicated recruiters in a number of countries and is planning virtual recruitment events to offer information about physician opportunities in Manitoba."
On a job posting on CHL's website, the firm tells interested physicians Manitoba provides "a rewarding medical career and an exceptional quality of life."
