The Manitoba government is taking significant steps to enhance transparency and accountability in the health sector. Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced proposed changes to the Regulated Health Professions Amendment Act (RHPA) on April 17, 2024.
“Manitobans place immense trust in their health-care providers, especially during their most vulnerable moments. When that trust is broken, and patients are harmed, they deserve answers,” Asagwara stated. The minister emphasized the importance of public understanding of how colleges respond when a health professional is convicted of an offence impacting that trust.
The proposed legislation would make disciplinary hearings open to the public when a health professional’s registration or certificate of practice is considered for cancellation due to a conviction for an offence relevant to their suitability to practice.
The proposed amendments include limited exceptions, with colleges required to disclose the reasons for invoking exceptions orally at the meeting and make them available to the public in writing. Reasons for a meeting to remain closed would include matters involving public security, jeopardizing personal safety, or prejudicing an ongoing civil or criminal proceeding.
The RHPA is an umbrella legislation that provides consistent rules and processes for governance, registration, complaints, discipline, regulation, and bylaw-making authority for Manitoba’s health profession regulatory colleges.
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