Inability to get cataract surgery close to home 'failure of our provincial health care,' says Brandon man

A Brandon man who is facing hours-long trips to another city for cataract surgery says Manitoba's next provincial government urgently needs to tackle wait times and accessibility for the procedure.

Grant Fines retired at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, soon after he began developing cataracts. He went to see his doctor when he noticed his vision was getting hazier and was referred to an optometrist, but waited almost a year for an appointment and diagnosis.

He was officially diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes last October.

His vision loss limits his ability to drive his moped, visit the grocery store or even watch baseball on TV, but to get the cataract surgery he needs to improve his sight, Fines says he'll have to make multiple trips to Winnipeg or Regina — both three-hour drives away from his home.

"If they're sending people out of province to get these things done … that's some kind of a failure of our provincial health care," he said.

That's especially concerning as many baby boomers, like him, require more health-care services, he said.

"There's a lot of other people in the same boat," said Fines. "That's why I'm kind of surprised  that nobody's really picked up the ball and run with it" during the lead up to the Oct. 3 election.

As of July — the most recent month for which data is available — the median wait time for cataract surgery in Manitoba was 13 weeks, according to the province's wait-time dashboard.

The Brandon Regional Health Centre had a 10-week median wait as of July, with 235 patients on the hospital's wait-list for cataract surgery, according to the dashboard.

Dr. Guillermo Rocha, who until recently practised in Brandon at the Ocular Microsurgery and Laser Centre in Brandon and is now chair of the department of ophthalmology at McGill University in Montreal, says the type of surgery cataract patients need can affect their wait.

There's more availability for low-risk patients who can have surgery under local anesthesia, he said.

For those who need more complex surgeries, and require intravenous sedation in a hospital with an anesthetist, there are fewer surgery slots, especially in Brandon, Rocha said.

"Often the perception is that patients are waiting, but there are many steps along the way," Rocha said. "Not all patients with cataracts are the same."

Pandemic led to backlog: vision-care organization

One of the challenges with wait times in Brandon was that after 25 years in the city, Rocha left for Montreal in August to take on his new role at McGill.

A few months ago, Brandon was close to having its cataract surgery services cancelled, and preserving them "took collaboration from the [Prairie Mountain] regional health authority in Brandon and great involvement from my clinic and my staff to make it work," Rocha said.

Prairie Mountain Health said in a statement that a new ophthalmologist, Dr. Mohit Chhabra, started a private clinic at Rocha's former clinic on Sept. 17. He is catching up on referrals and plans to start cataract surgeries in the next month, the health authority said.

"I'm really happy that we got someone who is very skilled and very personable," said Rocha.

Chhabra "will prove to be a very important part in maintaining ocular health in Brandon and the Westman region," Rocha said, but "we have to be patient to allow ... his practice to grow slowly."

Josie McGee, vice-president of health care innovation of Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, says her not-for-profit organization — which offers rehabilitation therapy and health-care services for people with vision loss — has seen an uptick in clients since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions ended.

Before that, many people couldn't visit their eye care professionals, which led to backlogs not just in Manitoba but across Canada, McGee said.

For cataract patients, once they do get surgery, "hopefully their vision will be restored," McGee said.

"While clients are waiting, we can happily serve these clients," working with them to maintain their independence while they wait for surgery, she said.

Parties' promises

CBC asked the three main parties running in the upcoming provincial election how they would respond to wait times.

The Progressive Conservative Party, which has been in government since 2016, cited the work of the diagnostic and surgical task force it formed in late 2021 to reduce wait times and get procedures done as soon as possible.

Prior to the election period, the PC government also announced a total of $400 million in spending on human resources in health care, including a $120-million commitment to recruit more health-care workers and specialists. Of that, $40 million is specifically targeted at communities outside of Winnipeg, the PC Party said.

• Read full coverage of the 2023 Manitoba election here

An NDP spokesperson said in an email the party will push for better access to quality health care in Brandon, pledging to attract more doctors by doubling the rural doctor recruitment fund.

Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont said in an email his party would invest in the Misericordia Eye Centre in Winnipeg, and said the Liberals would be willing to invest in a cataract and eye surgery clinic in Brandon. The Liberals have also committed to establishing a Brandon campus of the University of Manitoba's faculty of medicine.

For now, Brandon's Fines isn't sure what his future holds.

Even getting to Winnipeg for surgery is difficult because there's no bus transport between the two cities, which means he would have to find someone to drive him. 

He has a while to sort it out — he's been told he has an 18-month-long wait before he can see a surgeon in Winnipeg.

"It is quite frustrating," Fines said.