'Can the premier give us one good reason why he's not urgently investing in emergency care to get things under control?'
Saskatchewan emergency rooms are getting some help with more than 70 Filipino nurses set to join their workforce.
Recruits arriving from the Philippines are eligible for incentives including training programs, licensing, and resettlement costs.
However, NDP is asking the provincial government to also focus on helping out staff who are already dealing with overtime requirements and packed ERs, according to a CBC report.
"When it comes to the crisis in our emergency rooms we've called for a targeted plan to address the ER wait times and the funding to support it. All we've heard from members opposite are excuses," Opposition Leader Carla Beck (Regina-Lakeview) said during question period at the legislature in Regina on Thursday morning, according to the report.
"Can the premier give us one good reason why he's not urgently investing in emergency care to get things under control?"
With their recent moves, it seems Paul Merriman, Saskatchewan Minister of Health, is ignoring health-care workers in the province, according to the NDP.
"The minister talks about plans that he's making. We're continuously hearing that this is a minister who is not consulting with the nurses, with the physicians, with the health-care provider unions to help build those solutions, not consulting with municipalities in many instances," Beck said, according to the CBC report.
Late in October, hundreds of nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador called for better support from the provincial government, saying they have been overworked for the past year, and their safety is being put at risk.
Days later, the NL government announced it will recruit internationally educated registered nurses from India to fill vacancies in the province.
Saskatchewan has not determined where they will place the Filipino nurses. The province is hoping to bring in about 30 individuals on a monthly basis so as not to overwhelm the health-care system with training and on-boarding.
It is also hoping to recruit lab technicians and X-ray technicians.
Overall, Saskatchewan is working through more than 3,000 applications from health-care workers in the Philippines.
