Public healthcare is our best defense against this crisis and others like it. However, our ability to endure crises and care for each other has been eroded through our current governments agenda of austerity, privatization and inadequate planning.
Now more than ever, we need a universal, public health care system that puts patients above profits, that prioritizes the health of everyone living in Manitoba and that honours and respects the principles of the Canada Health Act.
We cannot allow this crisis to be used to dismantle universal, public health care in Manitoba. Instead, we must renew our commitment to a system based not on profit, but instead on the shared belief that health care is a human right.
We the undersigned call upon the government to:
- Immediately increase funding for public health care - no excuses and without sacrificing other public sectors
- Remove barriers to access to health care for rural, northern communities, including marginalized and vulnerable populations.
- Immediately improve the safety of our health care workers, including but not limited to, increase access to personal protective equipment for all health care workers, improve supports & resources, adopt strong protective standards, and enhance recruitment and retention.
- Cease any and all efforts of privatization in our health care system and seek public solutions to health care needs, such as testing, COVID19 response & beyond the pandemic.