Opinion

It is time to retire sick notes in Manitoba. They are a relic of another era — a paper slip that pretends to verify illness, yet does very little to support attendance management, public health or a strained care system.

In a province managing an acute physician shortage, every minute spent writing a workplace verification note for a routine cold or a short bout of stomach flu is a minute not spent diagnosing, treating or following up with patients who truly need care. That trade-off is no longer defensible and leading employers in health care are already showing a better way.

The data is clear. Doctors Manitoba estimates eliminating sick notes used only to verify a short-term absence could free up more than 300,000 appointments each year. At current workloads, that would be the

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