Manitoba pharmacists will soon have ability to prescribe birth control, HIV medications

Ian Froese · CBC News

· Posted: May 16, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Pharmacists successful Manitoba volition soon beryllium capable to prescribe commencement control, the province's wellness curate revealed this week successful an announcement that came arsenic a pleasant astonishment to the industry. 

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told the legislature Wednesday that granting pharmacists the means to measure and prescribe contraceptives is simply a "very tenable enlargement of scope for pharmacists successful Manitoba." 

The curate added successful an interrogation the government is moving "very quickly" connected the changes, which will instrumentality effect "in the coming days and weeks."

"We're trying to get it out the doorway as quickly arsenic we tin for pharmacists crossed the state who person been asking for this for years," they said.

Pharmacists volition besides beryllium capable to prescribe HIV medications opening this summer, a authorities authoritative said.

Manitoba, Ontario and the 3 territories are the lone places successful Canada that do not presently let pharmacists to prescribe commencement control. 

Emergency contraceptives, specified arsenic the Plan B pill, are presently disposable without a medicine from pharmacies.

"Right present successful Manitoba, pharmacists bash not person the quality to practise astatine their afloat scope, the mode that they should," said Asagwara, who pledged "to spell adjacent further" successful granting pharmacists much prescribing authority.

Pharmacists Manitoba welcomes change

Members of the manufacture relation Pharmacists Manitoba were in the legislature to ticker question period Wednesday, aft they were informed that Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux would inquire questions astir pharmacists' scope of practice.

In her archetypal question, Lamoureux asked if the authorities planned to "enable and empower pharmacists who straight measure and prescribe contraception."

The question prompted  a sometimes uncommon occurrence successful question period: a nonstop reply to the question posed.

"The abbreviated reply to that question, for the subordinate of Tyndall Park, is yes," Asagwara said.

Britt Kural, the pharmacy signifier advisor with Pharmacists Manitoba, said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the response.

"We had nary thought that determination was going to beryllium thing close astir the corner," said Kural.

The pharmacist said she believes she and her colleagues volition beryllium capable to prescribe products like daily oral commencement power pills, hormonal injections and IUDs, but the state hasn't provided those details yet.

Currently, a patient must spell to a doctor's bureau oregon a caregiver practitioner to person a medicine for commencement control, and must then visit a pharmacist to prime it up.

This regulatory alteration volition prevention patients from seeing a doc oregon caregiver practitioner.

"Quite often pharmacists are a archetypal constituent of attraction for galore radical successful Manitoba, due to the fact that they don't person entree to a superior attraction doc oregon a caregiver practitioner, particularly successful agrarian and distant communities," Kural said.

She couldn't estimation what benignant of uptake pharmacists volition see, but said her assemblage is anxious to help.

Women's Health Clinic enforcement manager Kemlin Nembhard said immoderate measurement toward making medicine commencement power much accessible is worthy celebrating.

The alteration volition marque contraceptives easier to entree for radical without a household doctor, oregon for young radical who interest astir their parents uncovering out, she said.

While Manitoba's NDP authorities has been offering escaped medicine commencement power since October of past year, Nembhard said immoderate hurdles to accessing these contraceptives persist, specified arsenic the requirement to person a wellness card. It's 1 of the reasons the session runs a escaped commencement power program, funded wholly done donations.

"It would be great for america to get backing done the province to enactment that program," Nembhard said.

Kural said Manitoba's pharmacists would similar to  further grow their prescribing authority. Some options could see prescriptions to treat the insignificant ailments pharmacists are already assessing, specified arsenic strep throat, receptor infections and acold sores, Kural said.

Any specified determination would necessitate regulatory changes from the province.