Uzoma Asagwara

As Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara supports expanding and improving availability of breast-cancer screening—requiring plans to ensure equitable access for vulnerable groups, lowering self-referral age to 45 (then 40), hiring more technologists, and regular guideline reviews.

Uzoma Asagwara supports enshrining a patient safety charter into law to guarantee patients safe, respectful, timely, need-based access to quality health care — including primary and community care — and to clarify the health system's obligations.

Uzoma Asagwara says the government will introduce further legislation (including nurse-to-patient ratio bills) to fill in details of the patient-care charter — including timely access — and will take legal steps to improve the health-care system and address wait-time issues.

Asagwara supports immediate rollout of extended-hour clinics to reduce hospital wait times by redirecting appropriate emergency department patients to those clinics, ensuring clinic staff proactively identify and treat patients there and increasing public awareness to fully utilize clinic capacity.

Uzoma Asagwara supports strengthening hospital safety infrastructure by increasing institutional safety officers to 128, expanding the SAFE app to key hospitals, and installing amnesty lockers to protect frontline healthcare workers and improve patient safety.

Asagwara supports expanding newborn screening for congenital CMV in Manitoba, integrating the test into the routine newborn screening so families receive earlier answers, clinicians obtain critical information sooner, and children can get timely interventions for a stronger start to life.

Asagwara says staff were following protocols for this child's condition, has ordered a critical incident review, and insists the review must determine if there was an opportunity for the health team to learn and improve moving forward.

Uzoma Asagwara, as Health Minister, confirmed a critical-incident investigation into the emergency-room deaths, met with the family to listen and reassure them, and pledged to answer questions and take steps to prevent similar tragedies connected to emergency wait times.

Uzoma Asagwara says the government is "rebuilding long-term care" and is committed to preventing long-term care beds from disappearing in communities, intervening to keep facilities open so residents are not displaced.

Asagwara said the province remains committed to reducing the number of private nursing agencies, while supporting regions to manage patient safety in real time and allowing regions temporary flexibility to work with previously dropped agencies to ensure safe, reliable care.

Uzoma Asagwara supports offering digital health cards accessible via a mobile app to improve healthcare navigation, arguing that phone-based cards ease access during emergencies, make care more convenient, and allow parents to store children's cards for quicker access.

Asagwara supports dramatically reducing the number of private nursing agencies contracted by Manitoba (to four), implementing policies to vet and control agencies, limit costs, and ensure vetted, appropriately matched staffing aligned with expected standards of care.

As Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara supports the provincial pharmacare program providing free contraception, calling high uptake a 'clear sign that the demand was real,' saying it has 'opened doors' for those who couldn't afford contraceptives and makes a 'meaningful difference'.

Uzoma Asagwara says recruitment for a general surgeon in Flin Flon is 'active and ongoing' and that 'no one should have to leave their community to access medical care that should be available closer to home,' supporting restoration of local services.

Asagwara supports expanding training seats for lab and X-ray technologists and using return-of-service agreements to address Manitoba's diagnostic staffing shortage in rural and regional communities, advocating a 'grow your own' approach to recruit and retain personnel locally.

Uzoma Asagwara says the deaths linked to long emergency-department waits are unacceptable, has asked the chief medical examiner to review Genevieve Price's death, and has spoken with the family, indicating she seeks investigation and accountability over excessive wait times.

As Health Minister, Uzoma Asagwara supports making EMR training more accessible through a $5,000 bursary and in-community training, saying it creates a "clear pathway" for people to become EMRs and is "a step that municipal leaders and communities have been asking for for years."

Uzoma Asagwara strongly supports expanding local midwifery services in the Interlake region, calling the program transformative and necessary so families can access prenatal, birth and postpartum care locally. She emphasizes midwives’ role linking medical expertise with empathetic, culturally humble care.

As Health Minister, Asagwara says her government is rebuilding Manitoba's healthcare infrastructure—adding about 3,400 staff and 323 beds, planning 34 more—to increase capacity and prepare for respiratory season, and she blames prior government cuts for current strain.

As Health Minister, Uzoma Asagwara emphasizes ensuring frontline health-care worker safety during emergencies, strengthening supports and protocols, noting police and safety officers responded during the incident, while also stressing most individuals in mental health crisis seek help rather than cause harm.

As Health Minister, Uzoma Asagwara says restoring international students' provincial health coverage is important and a government priority; he acknowledges cuts are easier than restorations but reaffirms commitment to reinstate coverage to help attract international students.

Asagwara acknowledges the centralized scheduling rollout disrupted home-care service availability, apologizes for cancellations and delays, calls the changes necessary, says steps have been taken to restore geographic assignments and improve predictability, and says more recruitment is required.

Asagwara supports opening extended-hours primary-care clinics to reduce emergency-room wait times, saying health care should not be limited to 9-to-5 and that after-hours clinics give Manitobans more options to be seen more quickly while balancing busy schedules.