The Pembina Valley will see nearly 10 new full-time paramedic positions later this year.
Boundary Trails Health Centre will see the creation of 4.85 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, as well as 4.85 in Altona, converted from on-call positions.
Finance Minister Cameron Friesen, who was in Altona on Monday to make the announcement, said the move will help improve ambulance response times in rural Manitoba.
"We know that ambulances in our area are often on the road delivering patients between facilities, or responding to an emergency call, but when that happens we need to think about what is our capacity to then respond to the next call. Today's announcement means we are increasing that capacity with additional full-time paramedics. It's a good investment for Manitoba and one that I believe residents in our local communities will also see as a good investment."
The additional resources to Manitoba's emergency medical system is expected to reduce reliance on on-call staff. Some positions will be filled by staff currently working in the system on an on-call basis. Other positions are expected to be posted shortly, with paramedics hired to fill the vacancies and be on the roads later this year.
Jane Curtis, CEO for Southern Health region, welcomed the move for additional EMS personnel.
"It's something that we've been looking forward to for awhile. Putting extra resources into the frontlines helps to shore of those services. EMS is such a valuable service and so important to so many people which is why we are so excited about this."
In 2015-16, more than 98 per cent of EMS calls in rural and northern Manitoba were responded to within the provincial response time standard, with 62.14 per cent within nine minutes, 15.66 per cent within 15 minutes and 20.38 per cent within 30 minutes.
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