The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba fined pharmacist Rumina Ishani $3,500 plus $5,000 in costs for professional misconduct. The disciplinary action follows an August 2025 incident where the pharmacist failed to verify a prescription, resulting in a patient receiving a 20mg dose of an anti-psychotic instead of the prescribed 2mg.
This case serves as a reminder to ensure rigorous verification of drug dosages and patient identification during the clinical review process.
Dozens of autism advocates rallied outside the Manitoba Legislature on Saturday to hold the government to its reversal on Bill 232, the autism screening and supports bill, ahead of Tuesday's vote. The government had proposed amendments excluding adults after a 14-hour committee hearing, but Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine rolled them back Friday after public outcry, and now says it will support the bill in its original all-ages form. Rally speakers, including Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux, who introduced the bill, said supports must continue across the lifespan, not just in childhood.
If Bill 232 passes in its original form on Tuesday, autistic adults in Manitoba keep access to screening, diagnosis and supports across their lifespan instead of losing them at 18 — a direct follow-up to the government's policy reversal.
Only about 34 per cent of Canadians eligible for the Registered Disability Savings Plan have opened one, a 2024 Statistics Canada investigation found, versus roughly 68 per cent uptake for TFSAs and RRSPs. The plan offers up to $70,000 in federal grants and $20,000 in bonds, but take-up is held back by low awareness, few providers, and a 16-page clinician questionnaire needed to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit.
Frontline workers may be the first to tell eligible clients about a plan worth up to $90,000 in federal help that most never hear about.
A fatality inquiry heard that Prashant Sreekumar, 44, died on Dec. 22, 2025 after waiting about eight hours in the Grey Nuns emergency department in Edmonton for chest pain. A doctor testified the hospital's five general medicine units have run above capacity since at least 2024, with occupancy around 101 per cent in 2025, and that 20 to 30 per cent of beds hold patients who no longer need hospital care. The inquiry resumes in December.
The testimony puts numbers to ER overcrowding: more patients than beds, and a fifth to a third of beds taken by patients awaiting placement elsewhere.
The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) recently held its biennial general meeting, highlighting recent wage gains and the expansion of its defence fund. The union is prioritizing fair compensation, workplace safety, and protecting professional authority against AI, while continuing to advocate for Dynacare laboratory professionals seeking wage parity with Shared Health employees.
If you are an allied health professional, the union is currently developing independent workforce projections and pushing for stronger protections against AI in your collective agreements.
Manitoba is dropping amendments that would have limited its new autism strategy to children, so the bill will pass in its original all-ages form, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine announced. The reversal followed public outcry, 70+ emails to her office and a 14-hour committee hearing, from adults and families who said supports like help staying employed and living independently should not end at 18. Fontaine also announced $5 million to expand children's autism services at St. Amant, $1.75 million for overnight respite care, and said community pediatricians can now submit autism diagnoses.
Autistic adults in Manitoba keep access to the strategy's supports, employment and independent-living help won't cut off at 18, and the St. Amant funding expands children's services and respite care.
More than 300,000 British Columbians live with long COVID, and the province's virtual-care clinic serves over 8,500 patients. From Nov. 1, virtual group appointments will be capped at 30 patients, down from groups of up to 50, and the per-patient fee falls from $14.71 to $11.42. The clinic says allied health will no longer be available in virtual group settings and patients should expect longer waits; the changes were signed off by the Medical Services Commission on Sept. 24.
The changes land Nov. 1 on a clinic that is the main virtual-care route for thousands of long COVID patients across B.C.
A new national target aims to limit antipsychotic use in long-term care residents without psychosis to 15%. Current Canadian rates sit at 24%, prompting calls for cross-sectoral collaboration to improve prescribing, monitoring, and deprescribing practices across acute, community, and long-term care settings.
Expect increased focus on reviewing antipsychotic prescriptions and improving care transitions to meet this new national safety benchmark.
Philips has issued a notice regarding Azurion 7 systems that may contain unauthorized solid-state drives. These incorrect components could lead to system failures, including the loss of imaging capabilities, motorized movement issues, or the inability to access and store patient data.
If you use an Azurion 7 system, be aware that unauthorized drives may cause sudden equipment failure or loss of patient data.
Abbott has issued a recall for specific lots of i-STAT hs-TnI cartridges due to manufacturing variability. These cartridges may produce falsely elevated cardiac troponin I results because of reduced interference mitigation. There is no evidence of falsely low test results.
Check your i-STAT hs-TnI cartridge lots against the recall list and stop using any affected units immediately.
Federal, provincial, and territorial health ministers met in Winnipeg on October 16, 2026, to discuss healthcare system reforms. Key priorities included improving workforce mobility for internationally educated professionals, advancing national public health data sharing, and ensuring the sustainability of long-term funding for rare disease treatments and community care services.
Grifols has begun a phased resumption of plasma collection at its 17 Canadian centres, starting with Winnipeg (Innovation Drive) and Edmonton, with fewer daily donor appointments that will grow over time. Collection was paused on Aug. 14 after Health Canada issued a non-compliance rating at its Winnipeg Taylor Avenue clinic, whose licence remains suspended. The pause followed CBC reporting that two people died after donating plasma at Winnipeg Grifols clinics in 2025 and 2026.
Winnipeg donors can book again, but the Taylor Avenue site stays closed until Health Canada is satisfied the company has fixed its compliance problems.
Guelph psychotherapist Marinela Trickett has launched a petition asking Ontario to cover long-term supportive psychotherapy under OHIP, saying her clinic gets daily calls from people who cannot access long-term support and many wait until crisis, then go to hospitals where their needs are not met. With Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner she will bring the petition, aiming for 5,000 signatures, to Queen's Park in November. OHIP now covers psychotherapy only from a doctor or psychiatrist; private sessions average $150 to $180 each.
It asks Ontario to treat psychotherapy as medically necessary care, not a private expense, a question frontline workers hear from patients every day.
Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives, under new leader Konrad Narth, are promising to expand pharmacists' scope of practice if elected, speaking from a pharmacy in Morden. Shadow Minister for Health Kathleen Cook said Manitoba pharmacists have the most restricted scope of practice in Canada and the lowest number of authorized pharmacy services, citing a Pharmacists Manitoba survey finding 62 per cent of University of Manitoba College of Pharmacy students are considering relocating to another province to make better use of their training. Cook introduced Bill 240, the Pharmaceutical Amendment A
If passed, pharmacists could treat common conditions close to home, which matters for rural patients who travel far for doctor appointments and for pharmacy staff.
The author argues that expanding emergency departments to address overcrowding often fails if inpatient bottlenecks remain. Citing studies and national data, the piece suggests that increasing ED capacity without improving patient flow can worsen boarding times and strain nursing resources. Governments are urged to prioritize flow management and bed availability over physical facility expansion.
The federal government has extended health funding for mental health, addictions, home care, and community services by one year. This extension aligns with existing long-term care agreements and provides a new timeline for governments to discuss long-term funding formulas.
The pharmacy team at Boundary Trails Health Centre is moving into a new, expanded space starting in October 2026. This two-phase transition includes a new chemotherapy compounding area designed to meet national regulatory standards, supporting increased service capacity for the Morden and Winkler region.
Pharmacy staff at Boundary Trails Health Centre will move into a new, expanded space with a chemotherapy compounding area starting in October 2026.
Shared Health has launched mobile crisis services for adults in Winnipeg facing mental health emergencies. This initiative provides support directly to individuals in their own environment, reducing the need for them to travel to hospitals or clinical settings for care.
Expect fewer mental health patients arriving at hospitals as mobile teams now provide care directly in the community.
Dr. Jay Toor, an orthopedic surgeon at Concordia Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, is leading a Research Manitoba-funded initiative to use AI and large language models, a system called ORION, to cut surgical wait times at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Over 1,300 Manitobans face a median wait of 170 days for orthopedic surgery. In year one the team will test ORION against 10 years of HSC data, then trial it live in year two, predicting 5-8% more surgical capacity, 10-15% shorter waits, and $2-4 million a year in savings.
A Manitoba-made AI tool aims to shorten the 170-day median wait for orthopedic surgery, a number frontline staff see in their clinics every day.
Following flood damage on July 1, 2026, the Dauphin Regional Health Centre remains under restoration. Emergency and inpatient services were relocated to Ste. Rose and Grandview, with temporary lab and treatment clinics established. Provincial authorities and health organizations continue efforts to restore full clinical operations at the facility.
Emergency and inpatient services are currently relocated to Ste. Rose and Grandview while restoration work continues at the Dauphin facility.
The Manitoba government is expanding community-based support services. This initiative is designed to improve patient flow and help individuals transition into the most appropriate care settings.
